Eggerts 1. Meet Billie and Ed.

I call this series, The Eggerts of Hayward.  This my great-great grandfather, Ed Eggert on his wedding day in 1903.  He married Billie Welch in Chicago.  Billie was his second wife.

 

This is a four generation picture.  Ed was born in Ohio in 1876.  Next to Ed is his son, Laurence, the result of Ed's first marriage.  Laurence was born in 1897 in Cleveland.  Ed's father, Lewis, was born in Germany in 1841.  Laurence's daughter, my grandmother, Audrey was born in Toronto in 1917.

This is Ed’s mother, Emma, she was born in 1845 in Germany.

Here is Ed with his older brother, Jesse.  Jesse was born in 1871.  He was 5 years Ed’s senior.

Ed's son, Laurence, when he was a boy, with his dog.

Ed’s first wife, Ella, nicknamed Lulu, with Laurence.

Ed, on the right, at age 27, 1903, the same year he married Billie.  The 1900 census listed Ed, then age 24, as a machinist.  After Ed’s divorce he moved from Cleveland to Chicago.  By 1923 he was Superintendent at the telephone company.  Ed does not look like a machinist in this picture.

Here is the house where Billie, Ed's second wife, grew up.  Billie was born in 1880 in Prince Edward County, Ontario.  She was the fourth of nine children.

The seated woman in this picture is Billie’s mother, Jane.  The adult man is one of Billie's brothers, Garnet.  The woman standing is Garnet’s wife, Sarah.  The baby belongs to Garnet and Sarah.  The little girl standing is Billie and Garnet’s youngest sister, Rossie.  Rossie was a late-in-life baby. Billie named Rossie after her boyfriend “Ross.”  But Billie did not marry Ross, Billie married Ed.

Billie's father, Robert, died two years after Billie married Ed.

This picture was also taken in 1903, the same year Billie married, at Billie’s childless Uncle’s home.  He is on the lawn with his wife and a servant whom they treated as an adopted daughter at the time, but she did not maintain that status.  Billie is also in this picture.  Note the difference between the opulence of the house Billie grew up in and her Uncle's house.  These homes were next door to each other.  Billie's parents little farm was a small cut-out slice of her maternal grandfather's farm.  Her Uncle received the lion's share because he was the surviving son while Billie's mother was a daughter.

Bertha and Billie Welch, up front, at a cousin’s wedding.  Bertha was one of Billie's sisters and was four years older than Billie.  

Here we are at Bertha’s 1898 wedding.  Billie was her maid of honor.

After Ed and Billie married they vacationed at a cabin on Round Lake in Wisconsin.

Here we have Billie’s youngest sister, Rossie, at age 17.

At the same time Rossie was 17, Ed’s son, Laurence, was also 17.  Laurence carried hard feelings against his father for leaving his mother.  He spoke of the day his father left and how his mother cried and cried.  They had to scrape to get money and rent bedrooms in their house.  These feelings of animosity were passed down to Laurence’s only child, my grandmother, Audrey.  Lulu was remarried by the 1910 census.  (She and Ed were divorced sometime between 1900 and 1903.)  Lulu’s second husband was well liked, but the hurt of that divorce never left.  

Laurence, Rossie, Audrey.  Here’s where the story gets a little complicated.  In the Summer of 1916 Rossie came to visit her sister, Billie.  Laurence came to visit his father, Ed.  Rossie and Laurence fell in love and eloped.  Billie and Ed were aghast and wanted to get the marriage annulled.  Rossie told them she could possibly be pregnant.  But she wasn't.  Their daughter, Audrey was born in 1917, ten months after the wedding.

In 1922 Ed and Billie bought a resort in Hayward, Wisconsin.  They must have loved vacationing at that cabin at Round Lake.  Billie never had any children of her own.  She loved animals.  Note she is the only one not holding a gun for hunting season.

Before heading home to Ontario, after visiting the resort, Rossie and Laurence stopped in Cleveland to see Laurence’s mother, Ella Lulu, who is here with Audrey.  Lulu died in 1924 from an accidental drug overdose.  She was plagued by obesity.  A doctor prescribed pills to lose weight.  She was so happy the weight was coming off she took more pills, thinking that would take the weight off faster.  She was greatly missed by her son and granddaughter.  

May 18, 1925 Ed and Billie

Billie in 1925

Ed at the woodpile in winter.

Ed and Billie with horses

Billie and June

Ed on horseback

Dressed to go out

The resort was not open in winter, but Ed and Billie lived there year round.

I love a person who writes on their pictures.

This is Billie and Rossie with one of their brothers.  

Billie’s family was always welcome at the resort.  

This is their grandmother Welch, Mary Mulholland Welch, who immigrated from Ireland.  

It's not hard to see who Billie resembled.

Ed shoeing horse

Fall was for hunting.

Billie called this picture "Old Man Eggert With His Dog."

Billie, is it hi or bye?  It’s see you next week because I have lots more pictures of the Eggerts of Hayward. 

The Diet that Took Off Most of My 110 Pounds

As soon as someone finds out I lost 110 pounds the first question is what diet?  There’s not one answer.  I was not on the same diet for all 110.  My diet has evolved and is evolving.  I’m going to tell you the one I was on the longest, but I also want to tell you the best diet is the one that works for you.  Find it.  Experiment. 

I’ve read at least 100 diet books because my weight issues have been, and are, lifelong.  So far as I can see there is only one thing upon which experts agree, green vegetables are good.  They disagree on everything else.  I can’t live on green vegetables.

The diet that has worked best for me is eating high protein, low fat, low carb foods every three hours keeping calories at 300 or under each feeding. 

I eat a lot of

Eggs.  They feel good in my body.  I eat them hard boiled.  I cook scrambled eggs in muffin trays so I have them ready.  I make omelets with spinach, peppers, canned green chilies, asparagus, mushrooms or lean taco meat.  I use whole eggs or eggbeaters.  I have gotten away from cheese, even fat free cheese.   

I like chicken, turkey, fish (which I am more likely to order out than cook).  I also like lean beef, but it doesn’t work as well in my body as chicken and turkey.  Bags of frozen shrimp are also easy to thaw out and eat. 

When I was heavier I made certain I ate a measured portion of nuts daily.  I love nuts.  I also read they prevent gall bladder attacks which are common in people who lose a lot of weight.  I once saw a co-worker on a strict weight loss program suffer a gall bladder attack followed by surgery the next day.  She was in a lot of pain.  I did not want that.  I also have a penchant for Kind Almond Coconut bars.

I have a love/hate affair with Quest Bars.  I love them, but am not sure they work as well in my body as well as whole food.  They work better than some things and worse than others. 

I used to say I was eating South Beach Phase One foods, but that allows you to eat beans and limited dairy.  They don’t work so well in my body.  That does not mean they won’t work for you.

I also like Muscle Milk Light, as a meal, not as a beverage.

I drink water, tea, coffee and I like Sobe Lifewater and Vitamin Water Zero.  Sobe Lifewater black and blueberry is my favorite.  Occasionally I drink a diet soda as a treat, not as a regular thing.  My favorite artificial sweeteners are stevia followed by sweet and low, because the others are made from sugar and the sugar impacts me.

Cheating.  What I learned about cheating is that one cheat meal can undo a week’s worth of weight loss.  This made it so not worth it.  I also found I could gain weight, even eating the above listed foods if I ate too large a portion.  Cheating takes days to recover from, sad, but true.  The cheating that worked best for me is pick an event, far away.  Examples are Bob and Sue’ wedding or Labor Day Weekend, the event can be a whole weekend long, but don’t make it too frequent, not even monthly.  You do damage your dieting over that weekend, but you give yourself enough time to recover.

After weight loss the next question that arises is how do you easily maintain that?  I’ll let you know when I figure it out.  

Here I am, at the annual Hispanic Women of Distinction Luncheon in 2012.

And here I am with my beautiful daughter at that same luncheon in 2014.

One Brief Life

Meet my great-great-great grandfather, Janne Osterberg. Janne was born in 1820 in Sweden. He was a man of the sea. This picture was taken in 1850. In 1855 Janne married Anna.  A few months later Janne died at sea, near Rotterdam. He was buried at sea. His personal belongings were returned to Anna when the ship returned to Sweden.  My Dad didn't know Janne's story, though he knew his great-grandmother's maiden name was Osterberg. Dad looked at that picture and made a comment about Janne's short life and all that was left of him was one picture. That got me thinking.

Anna, was 25 when she married 34 year old Janne. This picture was taken when she was 45. In November of 1855, months after Janne died, Anna gave birth to their daughter, Charlotte.  Anna never remarried.  I wonder why?  Did she not want her daughter to come under the control of a step-father?  Did she not want to come under the control of a husband?  Was Janne such a wonderful husband she felt he could not be replaced?   Was he such a terrible husband she did not want to repeat the experience?  Did she fear she would get pregnant again, and die, which was not uncommon, leaving her daughter an orphan?    

  

At 20 years old Charlotte married Martin. I’m going to guess since Charlotte was having her wedding picture taken they decided to have Anna’s picture taken too.  Over the next 17 years Charlotte gave birth to ten children, six of whom lived to adulthood.

This is the house in which they raised their children, it had been in Martin’s family for many generations, and still is.  

This is Martin and Charlotte's second child, Otto.  Their first child, Ava, lived less than a year. In 1903, when he was 25, Otto immigrated to the United States. In 1909 he immigrated back to Sweden, where he lived the rest of his life

This is my great-grandmother, Martha. In between Otto and Martha was a son, Harold, who lived less than a year. In 1905, at age 23, Martha immigrated to America. She married a Swedish immigrant named Lindquist.

This Harold was born one year after Martha. His parents must have missed the first Harold. Surviving Harold was a bold man because he was the first to immigrate to the US at the age of 18 in 1899.  His older brother and sister followed him. He also changed his last name for some reason that had to do with employment. 

The beautiful Anna was born two years after Harold. Anna, and her younger sister and brother, remained in Sweden.

Here are the last two children, Ester and Janne. They both came two years apart.  Janne is the oldest.  Janne is named after Charlotte’s deceased father.

Two years after Ester, Charlotte had a boy, Elias, who lived less than a year. Charlotte was pregnant again one year later, that pregnancy ended her life as well as the unborn child's who was never named and whose sex does not come down through history. Charlotte died shortly after giving birth.  She knew she was dying.  Her daughter, Martha, shared the story of her tearful farewell with her grandson, my father.  After Charlotte's death her mother, Anna, who had been widowed for 37 years, moved in with Charlotte's husband, Martin, to help him raise the children. Like Anna, Martin never remarried.

So let’s go back to that first picture of Janne, who had that one brief life, dying at age 35, after having been married for less than a year, and leaving his pregnant wife.  She had one daughter, Charlotte.  Charlotte had six children who lived and four who died shortly after birth.  Among her children was my great-grandmother. Those six living children produced 12 children, including my grandfather.  I do not know the number of descendants past that level, which include my father's generation, my generation and my daughter's generation. I must disagree with my father that all Janne left of himself was one picture.