THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

It seems like I have been neglecting my blog these past few weeks. Of course, there was Thanksgiving, the never ending over 3 month bathroom re-model (which is still not done), decorating for Christmas and probably some writer's block, but no more excuses.

In 1967, my Grandparents (Charlie and Theresa) took me along with two of my cousins to Santa Barbara for the weekend. We visited the Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez missions.  We also visited my cousin Bonnie, who had 2 little girls at the time.  The photo above was taken at the Santa Ynez Mission.  Grandpa Charlie was the photographer.  I am not sure why the parking lot took center stage over us or the mission buildings but that was probably why Charlie was better in front of the camera than behind it.

In October of this year, my sister Kate was visiting me from Colorado. I suggested to her that we take a road trip from San Diego up to the Santa Barbara area.  On our way back to our hotel, the Santa Ynez Inn, from Solvang, Kate pointed out the Santa Ynez mission.  We decided to stop and visit for a bit. I immediately thought back to my trip with my grandparents and cousins 46 years ago.

Here's a photo of what the mission looks like currently --

Funny thing -- the parking lot still basically looks the same!

While we were in Santa Barbara, we did meet with one of Bonnie's daughters, Julie,  who is now all grown up with kids of her own. It was fun visiting with her and her family, as well as with my brother and some of his family. Travel and family -- it doesn't get better than that!

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

While I was perusing the slides of my Grandparents' visit to Austria in 1961, this one caught my eye.  I remembered that Innsbruck had hosted the Winter Olympics several times.  Perhaps, this is what made me save this photo vs. disposing of it like I did with all the other photos without people in them.  Yes, I am still kicking myself for doing that five years ago.

So, when I found out that I would be traveling to Innsbruck this fall, the ski jump was definitely on my list of sites to see.  Now, I guess it is not surprising that it doesn't quite look like that anymore.  The photo below is the current ski jump (the 6th one that has been built).  The current one is 14 years old.  Our tour guide told us that the Innsbruck cemetery is below the ski jump so the jumpers can see the cemetery on their way down.  I guess that gives them added impetus to jump correctly and not end up in the cemetery -- one way or another!

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

Fifty two years, my Grandparents (Charles and Theresa Sherlock) enjoyed a month long vacation in Europe.  They visited England, Ireland, Amsterdam, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.  It is my dream to follow in their footsteps -- to visit the places that they visited and create my own memories.  I won't be able to visit them all in a month long trip like they did, but rather in several separate trips.

I began fulfilling that dream this month on October 1st.  My brother invited my husband and I to join him and his wife on a trip to Austria and Germany.  How could we say no?

After a very long flight from California to Munich via Chicago, our tour bus drove us to Innsbruck, Austria which took an additional 2 or so hours.  We checked into the Grauer Baer Hotel in Innsbruck, exhausted but very excited, and was just in time for dinner with our tour group at the hotel restaurant on that first night.

Our adventure would begin the very next day ....

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

# 3  BYRON CENTER/ BYRON TOWNPLACE, MICHIGAN

Continuing on my "Genealogy Travel Bucket List", I head back to the United States and to the town of Byron Center in the Kent County, Michigan.  In 1847, my 2nd great grandfather Sebastian Homrich (see above photo) immigrated to the US from Germany.  He was 17 years old at the time.  Sebastian married Catherine Herzeg and they had 3 children.  Catherine died after giving birth to the 3rd child, who didn't survive either.  Then in June 1863, he married my 2nd great grandmother Anna Simon in Byron Center, Michigan. I consider Sebastian the Patriarch of the Homrich family here in the US.  Sebastian and Anna had 14 children, including my great grandmother Theresa.

Sebastian was a farmer during his many years in Byron Center. I would love to see his former property, where Theresa grew up with her many siblings. Sebastian and his family attended Mass at Saint Sebastian's Catholic Church in Byron Center. I would definitely want to visit the church as well as the church's cemetery, where a lot of my ancestors are buried.  Sebastian and Anna are buried in Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Grand Rapids, so I would need to make a trip up to Grand Rapids, too.

My great grandmother Theresa Homrich Nebgen is buried in Chicago.  Hmmm, wonder if that is going to be my #4 location?

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

This photo was taken in 1944 at Niagara Falls in New York.  Grandpa Charlie and my Dad are in the photo. I am not sure what they were doing in New York.  I'm guessing it was just a vacation.  Their home was in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles at that time. I don't know why but I love looking at vacation photos -- mine and everyone else's too!

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

One of the many places my grandparents (Charlie and Theresa Sherlock) visited on their great European trip of 1961 was the small town of Assisi in Italy.  Assisi is located north of Rome, in the province of Perugia.  Isn't Perugia the name of some delicious gourmet chocolate?

Behind Theresa (and I am guessing two of their traveling companions) is the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi.  It is a Franciscan monastery with an upper and lower church.  In addition to this church, there are several more churches in Assisi, including the Cathedral of San Rufino, the Basilica of Santa Chiara (Claire) and Church of San Pietro (just to name a few).  There are also two medieval castles in this town.

I am putting "Assisi" on my bucket list and also making a note to locate the chocolate factory in Perugia.

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

I love this photo of my Grandpa Charlie (Sherlock) in Germany (I think!) in 1961.  This was a part of their month-long trip to Europe.  Whenever I see this photo, I think it looks like it is from one of his movies when actually  it was from his life.

On that trip, they took a cruise down the Rhine River and visited cities along the Rhine.  I am thinking that this is from one of those side trips. I have a photo of Grandma Theresa also with this officer, but of course, hers is  much more the typical pose of two people looking at the camera.

What is also typical of this photo of my Grandma and the German officer is that they are not posed in the middle of the photo.  Grandpa Charlie always took photos like this. He would say that he already knew what his family members looked like, he wanted to get the scenery as the focus point.

I do love how they were dressed up in all of the photos of this trip.  I guess that was custom in that time while now we are much more casual. Sometimes, I do yearn for those days ...

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

           In 1965, just before baseball season, my Dad (Donald Sherlock) took us kids to see the newly built Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. My Dad and his father and brothers were big Chicago Cub fans since they lived at least a bit of their lives in Chicago.  My Grandpa Charlie was born there and lived there for 29 years, while my Dad was born there but moved to Southern California when he was 6 months old. So being Cub fans, they couldn't (or wouldn't) cheer for the Dodgers.  [I loved the Dodgers but what did I know -- I was born in LA!].  Anyways, but the Angels was a team that they did cheer for the rest of their lives.

         It was exciting to see the brand new stadium.  Each year, my Dad would take us to watch the Angels play the Dodgers in the Freeway Series. Through the years, I would see baseball games there, a few concerts there and of course, football games played by the Southern California Suns of the World Football League.

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

One of the many places my grandparents (Charles and Theresa Nebgen Sherlock) visited on their whirlwind European tour of 1961 was Rome.  Practicing Roman Catholics their entire life, the Vatican was a "must see" destination for them. Theresa wrote an interesting story in her travel diary about their trip to Rome.

Charles and Theresa were staying at this hotel in Rome as part of their tour.  Monsignor Thomas Ryan came to the hotel to visit another couple who were on the tour.  Charlie heard the Irish brogue from the monsignor and stopped to talk to him. Monsignor Ryan was teaching the Pope (Pope John XXIII) to speak English.  They discussed the monsignor's secretary and found out that she was found County Mayo in Ireland (where  Charles' mother grew up).  Then Charles found out that he was related to the monsignor's secretary on the Kilroy (Charles' maternal grandmother) side.  Hey, Grandpa Charlie was doing genealogy way back then!

The next day Charles and Theresa visited many of the sites of Rome and Vatican City -- Quirinal Palace, Sistine Chapel, lunch at Alfredo's, Coliseum, St. Paul's Gate, Tomb of Keats, Basilica of St. Paul and Palace of Caesar (Circus Maximus).  On the following day (Sunday), they hadn't heard any word about an audience with the Pope but then at breakfast heard that 7 members of their group were having an audience with the Pope.  So, Charles called his "newly found' relative [the secretary of the monsignor] and the monsignor said that they should meet him at St. Peter's.  The monsignor took Charlie and Theresa through a private entrance  to see the Pope.

According to Theresa's diary, "we were sitting on his [the Pope] left side, we touched his steps, [he] made nice talk in Italian, then gave us his blessings.  After that he said the Angelus and gave blessings to all the people in the square so we had to two blessings.  Then we went to the 12:00 Mass and Communion at St. Peter's".  How exciting that must have been for Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Theresa!

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

      Okay, so this isn't exactly diving off the famous cliffs in Acapulco but it is in Baja California. This photo was taken of my Dad (Don Sherlock) on his honeymoon in 1951 in Ensenada.  Since he still has his sneakers on, I hope he didn't exactly jump.  I never did ask my parents why they selected Ensenada and then fishing at Lake Wohlford in San Diego County for their honeymoon. I have a feeling that Ensenada was probably quiet, relaxing, had a beach and was probably inexpensive at the time which are all good attributes for a destination for a young married couple without much money.  The fishing is a harder one to explain!

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

      In my last post, I was discussing my Grandparents' (Charles and Theresa Sherlock) trip to Ireland in 1961. Even though they only spent two days there, they met a lot of relatives and visited a number of their homes. Charles and Theresa  visited the old homestead of Bryan Sherlock and Margaret Caffrey Sherlock in Demailestown, Meath, Ireland where Charles' father Edward Sherlock was raised. Edward died when Charles was just a baby so I am sure that this visit to the old homestead was rather emotional for Charles.

      According to Grandma Theresa's diary, after visiting the homestead, they went to Pat Sherlock's home for lunch.  They saw his land and cattle.  The above photo shows Pat and Theresa out in the field with some of his cows. Then they visited the Carey's and Lady Ruth's home [I have no idea who these people are].  After stopping to pick up Pat's wife, they went to visit Agnes, her husband and their 9 children.  [I think Agnes is Agnes Sherlock mentioned earlier in the diary].  Finally they visited Mary Glacken [who was also mentioned previously in the diary] in Navan, Meath, Ireland.

      So, I now know who they visited and where they went but the question that remains is how are these people related to my Grandpa Charlie [and therefore to me]?   Let me do a quick review of the family tree -- Bryan Sherlock and Margaret Caffrey Sherlock had at least 8 children -- Nicholas, Mary, Bernard, Christopher, Edward, Bridget, John Joseph, and Patrick Joseph.  According to my research Nicholas died at age 36 in Australia and Bernard died at age 20 in Ireland, while both Christopher and John Joseph immigrated to Boston. I don't have any further information (except for birth dates) for Mary and Bridget.  Patrick had one son named Patrick or Paddy.  I think the Patrick that graciously chauffeured my grandparents around Ireland was Paddy. I don't know how Christian Sherlock, Mary Glacken, Agnes Sherlock or other people in my photos are related to me.  Perhaps posting some of these photos on my blog might help me find answers. One can hope!

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

       In 1965, my Grandparents Charles and Theresa Sherlock decided to move to a retirement community in Hemet, California. They had been living in the San Fernando Valley, nearby their sons and grandchildren and thought they needed a change.  Charlie was retired from his second career (acting) and thought living with other active seniors would be a nice lifestyle.  So, they bought a house in Panorama Village (rather ironic since 2 of their sons lived in Panorama City) on the 3rd hole of the golf course.  You can see the 3rd hole in the above photo.  Theresa is standing in her small backyard.  Luckily, no golfers were out there when the photo was taken.

       We visited Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Theresa several times when they lived there.  We would go swimming in the community pool.  I remember the drinking fountain at the pool had the coldest water I had ever drank, which was a good thing because it was very hot there.  Of course, we typically visited during the summer months.   Being a retirement community, there wasn't a lot to amuse us kids besides the swimming pool, so my sister and I would visit the ducks at the pond.

       After a few years, my grandparents decided they missed not being around their family and moved back to the San Fernando Valley and in fact, moved around the corner from our house so that they lived mid-way between us and our cousins who lived down the street.

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

      My 2nd great grandparents (Baltazar Nebgen and Anna Maria Wittayer) both lived their entire lives in the municipality of Dernbach in Germany.  Dernbach is located in Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany or more simply put, it is in the western central part of Germany.  My great grandfather Peter Joseph Nebgen was born in Dernbach on 12 Dec 1869 and lived there until he immigrated to the US in 1888.

      The above photo is a picture of the old Dernbach homestead of Baltazar and Anna Maria.  It is rather exciting to see a photo of the house where my great grandfather grew up.  I wonder if this house is still standing.  I am thinking that I am putting "Dernbach" on my bucket list of places to visit.