During the summer, the Ditzlers dig out a relic–the family reunion, a meeting of the descendants of my husband’s grandfather, Eugene Ditzler, who spent most of his life as proprietor of the drugstore in the village of Davis. He was married twice. His first wife, Minnie, died while their children, Irene and Rolland, were growing up. His second wife, Henrietta, was the mother of Robert and also Minnie’s younger sister. In those days, when a woman died leaving the man with children to raise, he often married another one of her family.
Although Grandpa loved all his great-grandchildren, he was especially pleased when our son, Kurt, was born. At last, there was a boy to carry on the family name. Ken and his younger brother, Tom, have become the oldest Ditzler men in the clan.
When I was a kid, family reunions were a common warm weather event. It was a once-a-year time to see distant cousins and observe how people had changed–children matured, some adults grew fat, and the old might have “slipped a little.”
Each family had their designated Sunday, the only day of the week farmers socialized. Everyone arrived to eat dinner at noon so the festivities would be finished late in the afternoon to allow attendees to return home by chore time. Food was plentiful and tasty because every woman brought her favorite dish-to-pass.
My dad’s family, the Tschabolds, always met on the last Sunday in June at cousin Johnny’s Wisconsin farm. Dad said his kin liked to show off his modern, dairy set-up, but the gathering included a keg of beer, which wasn’t allowed in public forest preserves or parks. A few relatives came from Arkansas and Minnesota, but most lived in the area.
In families, first names were used generation after generation. At our gathering, stand up and shout, “Margaret,” and several females of different ages would answer.
I never did figure out how many brothers my grandfather had. Sometimes, Dad would refer to his uncles using monikers including Jug, Pork or Bean, and then again he said given names such as Will, Herman or Emil.
Do you attend any family reunions?