#1
The Arrival
Cincinnati Circa: 1900
2017:
If one was to find my grandma, Betty Mullen, in her element, you would need to track her down on a bus headed towards some random location, whether it be the midwest, Alaska, Mexico, or even the slot machines at the casinoes in New Jersey. My grandma, commonly referred to as “Granny G”, as I did when I was oh so young, loves to travel and expirience new places and see the world. With short fluffy grey hair which I tussell every time I see her and large maybe 8 inch lifted shoes to aid her various old age pains that she powers through daily, she loves to explore and find new places in the world she has yet to come across before. Every birthday I had she would take me on a train trip across the landscape of Pennsylvania just to see what we would be able to look at and experience, and every time it was as exciting as the first. Her fun loving spirit and urge to go to the bank to get fresh money every time she sends birthday or holiday cash makes me wonder about her. What made this women so incredible? I could not have asked for any other grandma in the entire world and I owe her a great debt. As a kid, young and still learning, I did not ask her as many deep questions as I could, now I have that ability and it opens up many different avenues. Her having a part in raising me and helping my childhood, makes me want to ask about her upbringing and what she knows about her parents and their parents, because they created an incredible lovable lady that is Granny G.
1900s:
Germany, where it all began. This is where the history of my grandma’s side begins and where the story starts. Her grandparents, born in Alsace-Lorraine and Frankfort, came over in the early 1900s. Alois Glaser, my grandma’s great grandpa and his son Karl Glaser, my grandma’s grandpa, came over for opportunity in 1902, waiting 8 years for his wife to come over in 1910. They settled into Cincinnati, where a large German population had amasses as could be seen by the many breweries throughout the streets of the growing city. By the late 1800s Cincinnati was recognized as the capital of the brewing industry due to the large German influence. German heritage in Cincinnati dates back as early as 1802, when a revolutionary war veteran originally from Germany was elected the first mayor of Cincinnati. By the 1900s 75% of the Cincinnati population was German-American, showing the staggering amount that made their way to the Ohio city. As time went on, the more prosperous left the city for the Great Lakes and cities booming to the west, but the German population still stood strong.
My ancestors helped contribute to a booming German culture in Cincinnati, which presumably made it easier and easier for immigrants to come to a new country. Its my due diligence to appreciate the early German immigrants that came over and built up the “Over-the-Rhine” section of Cincinnati, as my gradma’s grandfather coming alone would be way worse without a strong core of Germans already settled into to the town. I can still see the influence of my grandma’s grandparents today as every September and October their are Cincinnati Oktoberfest events held, and is the largest Oktoberfest celebration in North America with over 500,000 people every year, and is appropriately labeled Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati. This large German influence on Cincinnati makes me wonder more and more about the influence on my grandma.
Through this project, I hope to explore how my grandma’s parents and grandparents influenced her and turned her into the person she is now because she is a person I can strive to be. I hope to dive into her childhood and see what made her who she is and what is was like growing up in her time period with the influences she had around her. Being born in the 1940s with parents born in the 1900s, I’m sure she has many different stories that are unparalled to others. I hope to find out if she had a strong German influence has a kid and how much her grandparents brought that over from their homeland. Whether it be cuisine, activities, learning, etc., I am interested to know what is was like to be her as a child compared to growing up with T.V.’s and computers and phones all around me at every second of the day. I believe she will have some extremely interesting stories to share.
Knowing little about my family to start this project, it will be interesting to see how much I can learn. Already discovering that my ancestors have strict German roots is interesting because I really did not know where my ancestors were from in the slightest and I was almost ignorant about it. Learning about my mom’s mom’s side of the family makes me want to learn about every side of the family to see where everyone came from and see how I got to where I am today. Before starting this project, I never really gave a thought about my ancestors or where they came from, just knew I had some sort of European heritage in me. Now looking at hard evidence of my ancestors being here before me makes me want to know more and more. You realize it wasn’t a cake walk for you to be where you are today, many before me had hardships in there life that they powered through to pave the way for future and future generations to come. And those people probably know they are doing it without getting recognition later in their life, but they live their lives and try to do the best for themselves helping the later generations they preceed. Ancestors deserve to be remembered and their history should not be forgotten and should be honored, especially one’s like my ancestors who immigrated here from a random country. That takes a great deal of courage that I cannot imagine. Doing this project makes me hope for one thing-
That when I grow old and pass away, that one day maybe a hundred years or two hundred years or three hundred years from now, my great great great (etc.) grandchildren spend the time to look into their family line and how they got to where they are today through the hard work of the people before them. I hope my grandkids will have the admiration for my family members and I as I feel for my ancestors that came before me.
Interview Questions:
1: How would you describe your childhood?
2: What relationship did you and your grandparents share and how often did you see them?
3: Did you ever live in Cincinnati yourself and if so for how long?
4: Where all did you live growing up?
5: What made you ultimately settle in Pennsylvania?
6: Did you have a strong German influence in your life growing up?
7: What makes you love to travel so much?
8: Did you ever hear your grandparents speak about Germany?
9: What is the majority language your grandparents spoke?
10: How much German influence did you parents have?
11: Did you ever learn to speak German?
12: Did you ever eat any family recipes that were German inspired?
13: Can you see anything in your life now that has German roots?
14: Where was your favorite place to live throughout your life?
15: What has been your favorite place to visit on your tours?
16: Do you know any stories of when your family first came to the United States?
17: Do you have any stories that you can recall that were passed down from your parents or grandparents?
18: What did you do for fun as a child?
19: What relationship did you and your parents share?
20: Was their specific holidays that were most important when you were growing up?
Working Bibliography:
Lagle, Laura. “The Sacred Space of Cincinnati.” University of Cincinnati. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2017.
“German 1830’s — 1950’s.” Cincinnati A City of Immigrants. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2017.
“History of Over-the-Rhine.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2017.
Fulbrook, Mary. German History since 1800. London: Arnold, 1997. Print.
