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The Black Cat

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“A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere.” — Groucho Marx   

Black cat folklore is varied with countless contradictory myths and superstitions. In Britain and Japan, black cats are considered good luck, but many Western cultures view the black cat as a symbol of bad luck.  Therefore, you can take your pick of black cat superstitions, and have some fun with it.

 

 

Instinct vs Reason

Read Edgar Allan Poe's most disturbing tale, The Black Cat.
Edgar Allan Poe (1848, Masury & Hartshorn, PD)

The Black Cat is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) first published in 1843. It’s one of Poe’s darkest tales, and he uses a black cat named “Pluto” to arouse superstitions and fear.  [Read it here, in full for free ⇒  The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe]   On the other hand, a black cat was a Poe household pet he described as a “remarkable” animal “of a demure and sanctified demeanor” in the short essay, Instinct vs. Reason–A Black Cat, (Alexander’s Weekly Messenger”, January 29, 1840).

 

Explore Poe’s Philadelphia home, and (if you dare) descend into the spine-chilling basement that inspired The Black Cat.  The Edgar Allen Poe Historic Site is open Friday – Sunday (9am – 12noon and 1pm – 5pm), free to visit, and no reservations are required.

Information/Resources:
Wikipedia (Black Cat – Historical Associations; Ship’s Cat; Bastet; Edgar Allan Poe)

 

Watch these specially selected thriller films to get that creepy, scary feeling this HalloweenFright Night Movies: An On2In2™ video collection, free to watch, on demand-– Suspense, Mystery, Terror, Horror, Evil….

 

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Feature photo is courtesy of Pixabay/Pexels CC0

Family Mystery

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"Bergische Haus" in Lennep
“Bergische Haus” in Lennep photo by Doris Antony CC BY-SA 3.0

Peter Albert Reinshagen was born on April 23, 1853 in the industrial “cloth making” town of Lennep located within the Prussian Rhine Province. Although now a borough of Remscheid, Germany, the history of Lennep dates back to the Middle Ages, and its town center still remains with more than 100 examples of 18th century “Bergische Haus” architecture, distinguished by timber framed post construction, grey-black slate facades, white window frames with green shutters, and white door lintels.

Peter was the second child and oldest son of six children born to Peter and Julie Leverkus Reinshagen (a sister, Anna, born a year earlier, died four months after Peter’s birth, and Albert, the youngest child, died in 1865 at not quite 3 years old).  Peter grew up with a younger brother, Carl Hermann (Karl), and two sisters, Auguste and Anna (she was born 8 years after the death of her older sister, Anna). The Reinshagen and Leverkus families were prosperous in their manufacturing businesses;  however, family life changed when Peter was just 12 years old; his father passed away on March 13, 1864.

 

Das Land des Wieder Anfanges
-The Land of Another Beginning-

 

German Immigrants Boarding Steamer to New York
“From the Old to the New World” German immigrants boarding steamer to New York (Harper’s Weekly, Nov. 7, 1874) PD/Wikimedia

A massive wave of German migration to the United States began in the 1830s, with the number of arrivals spiking in the mid to late 1800’s.  In the 50 year span between 1820 – 1870, over 7.5 million German immigrants came to the US, more than doubling its population.  Although decisions to emigrate seem to have been primarily based on economic, religious and political issues, there does not seem to be a specific cause underlying the phenomenon.  In fact, there are probably as many different motivations behind the 19th century migration from Germany to America as there were immigrants being that it was an extraordinarily diverse group with differing religious and cultural values, dissimilar political views, and varying geographical, vocational and educational backgrounds.

The diversity of these German-speaking people was due to the fact that since the end of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648, Germany had been divided into a patchwork of independent, monarchical states with distinct histories and competing interests. While political unrest and economic turmoil existed throughout the German states during the 18th and 19th centuries, the circumstances were never as extreme as the famine and oppression suffered in Ireland during the same time period. Consequently, German immigrants were not always escaping a desperate situation, and many had professional skills as well as capital to start a new life in America.

A mass emigration effort to establish German settlements on Texas land was conducted in the 1840’s by “The Society for the Protection of German Immigration in Texas” (known as “Adelsverein”, the “Nobility Society”) for the purpose of creating new world markets for German industry and promoting German maritime commerce.  The endeavor resulted in successful colonies in central Texas that still exist today, but ended in 1853 because of Adelsverein leadership, financial and administrative shortcomings.

So, it seems, many Germans making the dangerous transatlantic voyage toward an uncertain future may have been lured by the promise of an expansive new world with greater opportunity and ideological freedom.

The Mosel passenger list 26 May, 1877
Mosel Passenger List, 26 May 1877

We don’t know his reasons, but do know Peter, at 24 years old, set off for America on May 26, 1877 from the port city of Bremerhaven on the SS Mosel.  We can, however, assume there were personal, complex motivations, rather than economic hardship, as he traveled alone on second class passage, leaving behind his mother and siblings, and never to see his homeland again.

Peter arrived in America shortly after the intensely disputed election of President Rutherford B. Hayes at the close of the Reconstruction Era, embarking on his odyssey during the outset of the Second Industrial Revolution (1870 – 1914), a period of rapid growth and great advancement in manufacturing and technology. At the same time, unresolved political, economic and social issues continued to afflict the country with conflict, suffering and violence. 

It was the beginning of the family mystery.

Mother never talked about father. — C.H. Reinshagen (1891-1980)

What happened to Peter after he arrived in America?  What sort of man was he, and how did he die? No one had answers, but there was plenty of speculation among his descendants.

Carl Peter Henry Reinshagen with his mother Emma Michel Reinshagen (about 1896)
Carl with his mother Emma (1896)

In 1891, less than 15 years following his immigration from Germany, Peter died a few days before his 38th birthday and a few months prior to the birth of his only child, Carl Peter Henry (Charles Henry). Carl was raised in Comal County, Texas by his mother, Emma, and from the age of 7 years, a stepfather in a large, blended family of step and half siblings. Unfortunately, he was not given much information about his father, except Carl was made aware of his uncles, aunts and cousins in Germany.  No one in the family had the most basic information as to Peter’s travels and work in America, the circumstances of his death, or the location of his grave.  As a result, family legend developed depicting Peter as somewhat of an outcast, a “ne’er-do-well”, and bar owner, inferring the entire story was likely much worse.  It seemed after so many years, the man, his son and family deserved better.  In late 2014, the search began.

 

Finding Peter

There are no photographs of Peter, no written communication.  Three treasured documents have survived— a family tree compiled in 1906, the May 26, 1877 Mosel passenger list, and Carl’s baptism certificate, dated November 15, 1891.  Therefore, the first logical step of this investigation involved taking the information from the documents and search the internet.  There was a feeling of determination and confidence at the start of this endeavor because there are so many online information resources, tools and data bases, including records of birth, death, marriage, US census, immigration/naturalization, military, and probate as well as genealogy websites and newspaper articles. But, after many long days and nights of intense googling, it became apparent the “Finding Peter Research Project” was not going to be quick and easy.  Peter was not showing up on anything.

Then…Success!  Found a record of Peter’s marriage to Emma Michel on February 20, 1887 in Comal County, Texas.  Also, discovered some of the limitations of an online genealogical search and reasons Peter is so hard to find.

The biggest factor is that searchable 19th century public records are limited, incomplete, and very often inaccurate or not available on the internet;  therefore, genealogical research takes a lot more digging. Case in point, an online search of the US census records was a total bust, maddening until learning most of the 1890 census records (the year before Peter’s death) were damaged by a fire at the Commerce Department Building in January of 1921.  It then became somewhat discouraging to realize the chance of discovering documentary evidence of Peter’s location and occupation in the US had been reduced to the statistical information of only one source—the 1880 census.  This led to the conclusion the library was the best next stop on this journey.

The staff is friendly and helpful at the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives & Library in Austin, Texas, and it was fun exploring all the reference materials and collections.  A search via an ancestry informational website (for free!) identified a record of Peter’s birth and baptism in Lennep.  It wasn’t a lot, but a hopeful sign he was out there somewhere. Since his son Carl’s baptism took place at a church in San Antonio, Texas, it was likely Peter had died there.  The recommendation from a library staff member was to go directly to Bexar County records to check for a death certificate.

An online search of county and city records as well as published obituaries in the Bexar County, Texas area was not successful, and things really got frustrating after a telephone conversation with a county research clerk resulted in zero findings and a certain amount of hoplessness.  It became clear—the next place to try is the church.

Cornerstone of St. John's first church building (1860)
“To God Alone the Glory” St. John’s first church building cornerstone laid March 5, 1860

Founded by German immigrants in 1857, St. John’s Lutheran Church (Deutsche Evangelische St. Johannes Kirche) has substantial historical ties to San Antonio, and church volunteers have put in many hours preserving and making available its records which date as far back as its founding.  The information and documents available on St. John’s website are extraordinary, yet again, there were problems locating anything related to Peter in the online church archives, and this was particularly perplexing because Carl’s baptism certificate was issued by St. John’s in 1891.  Not ready to give up, made a call to the church office and left a message.

That call led to an email exchange with Maria, a volunteer genealogy researcher at St. John’s, and receipt of her email on December 12, 2014 was a memorable, emotional moment (more than a few tears!):

From city records: Peter died of consumption in the San Juan Mission settlement area on April 20, 1891.  His doctor was William Meier.  He had been a resident of Bexar County for 16 months, and was buried in Bexar County (“Lutheran”).

A few days later, Maria found Peter’s funeral listed in the church record books, and although a burial site was not identified and can’t be located in the church cemeteries, Peter Albert Reinshagen was added to the St. John’s cemetery “presumed burial” list because of the funeral record and the added note “Lutheran” in the city of San Antonio death record.  A gracious acknowledgement very much appreciated by the family.

Finding this long lost ancestor was both heartrending and joyous, and while more research is required to track Peter’s life in America from 1877 to 1891, the cause of death “consumption” is an important clue to the events leading to a tragedy.  Consumption (also known as the “White Plague” and the “romantic disease” in reference to the high mortality rate among young and middle age adults during that time period) is a medical term used in the 19th century for symptoms known today as tuberculosis, an infectious disease that commonly affects the lungs.  At the time of Peter’s death, tuberculosis was widespread in Europe and North America, highly contagious as the population density and poor sanitary conditions of cities created a high risk environment, and deadly because there were no adequate treatments.

“The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero

We are inherently compelled to search for long dead relatives.  Many thousands of years ago, when humans began living in large settlements, they searched for connections to a trusted tribal group through common ancestry, eventually the practice evolved into a means of establishing links to prominent or heroic figures in order to validate social status.  Today, a primary motivation is an instinctive desire to better understand who we are and how far we’ve come.

Finding Peter has answered some of those questions, but there are still missing pieces to the puzzle, and as so often happens, the answers have led to more questions.  The Finding Peter Research Project, therefore, remains ongoing.  Will update you with any new findings.

In the meantime, best of luck with your own family history research.  Listed below are online resources I found helpful in tracing Peter Reinshagen from Germany to the US.  If you have questions about the Finding Peter Research Project, would be happy to try to answer, and would enjoy learning about your family research projects as well.

German immigrants board SS Mosel for journey to America

 

Read about the German immigrant ship, SS Mosel, and Peter’s transatlantic voyage route → HERE.

 

 

 

Resources/References:

“German Immigration” US Immigration and Migration Library Reference, US History in Context

‘Big Wonderful Thing’ Excerpt: “Reason Had Left Its Throne” – excerpt from Stephen Harrigan’s book Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas*, Texas Monthly (October 2019) During the years before and after Texas independence from Mexico, a “steady surge” of German settlers arrived, and by 1850, they made up more than 5 percent of the population.

Wikipedia:  Remscheid, Berg House, German History, Prussia, Thirty Years’ War, German Americans, Adelsverein, Reconstruction Era, Rutherford B. Hayes, Second Industrial Revolution, History of Tuberculosis

Family Search website (free online search of a large collection of genealogical and historical records)

US census research information:  Genealogy FAQs

The National Archives and Records Administration “Resources for Genealogists”

Texas State Library & Archives Commission: Genealogy Resources & Online Public Access Catalog

St. John’s Lutheran Church website – History/”Church Archives” page

How To Make a Family Tree, the National Genealogical Society – References for Researching, a step-by-step tutorial

20 Reasons Why You Should Write Your Family History, by Carmen Nigro, New York Public Library (February 9, 2015) 

 

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Birds of America

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John James Audubon was a 19th Century artists and naturalist, and his "The Birds of America" publication is regarded as the greatest study of birds in history.
JJ Audubon by H.B Hall, PD

Some time around 1820, French-American artist and naturalist, John James Audubon (1785-1851) started work on a personal project to paint every bird species located in North America, using unique methods and materials as well as extensive field observations.  It was a tremendously challenging and costly endeavor, and many doubted Audubon’s ability to pull it off.  In fact, the idea would seem a little wild & crazy even today with 21st century technology.  But, Audubon was no ordinary guy. He was also totally committed to finding and illustrating every bird in North America for publication, working more than 15 years toward his goal and raising cash by teaching, selling art works, taking oil painting commissions, hunting and selling animal skins, and conducting exhibitions and demonstrations.

How to view and download John Audubon's extraordinarily beautiful illustrations in The Birds of America.
Common American Swan (The Birds of America, plate 411) is courtesy of the National Audubon Society, John James Audubon Center and Montgomery County Audubon Collection

The result of Audubon’s work is The Birds of America, first published in England as a series of 87 sets of prints between the years 1827 and 1838.  Now considered to be the greatest study of birds in history as well as one of the greatest examples of book art, the original publication included 435 hand-colored, life-sized prints of North American birds on handmade paper that were produced from copperplate etchings and engravings with water-coloring applied by assembly-line colorists.  An accompanying text (‘Ornithological Biography’) was written by Audubon and the Scottish ornithologist William MacGillvray and published separately in five volumes (1831-1839).

The cost of printing the first edition of The Birds of America was an amount equivalent to more than $2 million US dollars in today’s money.  Audubon financed the massive print project with pre-paid subscriptions, but only the wealthy could afford the subscription price which limited the publication to no more than 200 complete sets.  Consequently, more affordable editions were later produced using lithography and published during the mid-19th century.

 

“The Birds of America’ will then raise in value as much as they are now depreciated by certain fools and envious persons.” — John James Audubon

 

Almost two centuries later, Audubon’s bird art is still captivating and revered among birders and art collectors, and his influence on ornithology and natural history has been widespread and enduring as The Birds of America and Ornithological Biography significantly contributed to the understanding of bird anatomy and behavior.  Watching the short video, ‘Audubon’s Birds of America’ from the Lost Birds Project, you’ll get a sense of the massive beauty of these works of art as David W. Carson, curator of the History of Science Collection at Cornell University, conducts a private viewing of The Birds of America.

 

Six of the birds illustrated by John Audubon in The Birds of America are now extinct, and many more are endangered.  Also — According to a recent study, North America has lost more than a quarter of its entire bird population during the past 50 years. [North America Has Lost 3 Billion Birds, Scientist Say by Nell Greefieldboyce (NPR, September 19, 2019)] ⇒⇒ Learn how you can help by visiting the National Audubon Society’s Action Center.

A copy of the complete The Birds of America series is available FREE of charge for viewing and high-resolution downloading via ⇒⇒ the National Audubon Society’s digital library, courtesy of the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove in Audubon, Pennsylvania and the Montgomery County Audubon Collection.  Be sure to check it out, and let John Audubon inspire your own creative work.

Audubon’s personal copy of The Birds of America is held within the Stark Museum of Art Rare Books & Manuscripts Collections in Orange, Texas.  An original, complete series is on public display (one page is turned each week) in the Audubon Room of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  It was purchased by the university in 1839 for the astonishing price of $970 (equivalent to approximately $80,000 today). Undoubtedly, a wise investment.  In December 2010, a complete first edition from a private collection was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in London for US$ 11.5 million (a record breaking auction price).

Other permanent public display locations:  Trinity College (Watkinson Library) in Hartford, Connecticut; University of Pittsburg (Hillman Library);  Liverpool Central Library;  Woodstock Inn in Woodstock, Vermont;  and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (Ewell Sale Stewart Library) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Look around– there are surely more opportunities for viewing a first edition as there are currently 107 held by institutions, and many periodically offer special exhibits.

Information/Resources:
The Life of John James Audubon: The Naturalist (1869) [FREE ebook] The primary source material for this biography was Audubon’s notes and journals, written/edited by Lucy Green Bakewell Audubon and Robert Williams Buchanan. The JJ Audubon image is an engraving by H.B. Hall based on a portrait by Henry Inman that appears in the book.
John James Audubon – The Making of an American (2004) by Richard Rhodes*
Audubon’s ‘Birds of America’ at Yale:  Creating a masterwork one feather at a time. Article by Mike Cummings, Yale News, June 30, 2015
“Ornithological Biography” or an Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America Vol 4, (1838) by John James Audubon [FREE ebook].
Featured photo of Columbian Hummingbirds is from plate 425 of The Birds of America
Wikipedia:  The Birds of America

 

If you just can’t get enough about birds, there’s more here ⇒ Bird ID Challenge (test your birding skills);  Birdsong Melody  (the music and magic of the mockingbird);  The California Brown Pelican; and Fast and Fearless (the Hummingbird).

 

 

Audubon was the first, but there’s a new illustration of birds to get excited about!    The Wall of Birds* tells the remarkable story of artist Jane Kim’s 2,500 square-foot mural celebrating the diversity and evolution of birds at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  It took her 2 1/2 years to create the one-of-a-kind, life-size mural showcasing all 243 modern families of birds, and the book “is a visual feast, essential for those who love art, birds, and our natural world”.

 

 

 

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Mooncake

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A mooncake (yue bing) is a Chinese pastry traditionally filled with a sweet, dense filling (make that very sweet, very dense) and one or more whole salted egg yolk (symbolizing the full moon).  The tops of these delicacies are decorated with imprints of Chinese characters for longevity and harmony and the name of the bakery as well as images of the moon, flowers, vines, Chang’e (Chinese goddess of the moon), or a rabbit (symbol of the moon), and there hasn’t been a Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated in China without mooncakes since the Tang Dynasty (618-690 and 705-907) when they were first used as offerings to the moon and eaten during worship.  Today, mooncakes are customarily offered and shared between friends, gifted to business clients and relatives, and eaten at family gatherings while celebrating the festival, and there are many different crusts, fillings and regional styles.

Although deeply rooted in ancient tradition, the sky’s the limit when it comes to contemporary-style mooncakes.  The many modern creations include low-fat and sugar-free versions, exotic flavors and ingredients, and unique, custard-style fillings.  Häagen-Dazs was one of the first to create an ice cream mooncake.  They were a big hit (everybody loves ice cream!).

You might want to try this Home Baked Mini Cheese Shanghai Mooncake recipe (by Kimiya Lim, makes 16 small cakes) as it’s simpler and less time consuming than baking traditional mooncakes.

 

Ingredients

140g (1 cup) Cake flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
10g (1 tbsp) Custard powder
25g (1/4 cup) Milk powder
2 tsps Parmesan Cheese powder
40g (3 tbsps) Caster sugar
50g (1/3 cup) Softened butter
1 egg

4 Salted egg yolks (optional)*
320g (11 1/2 ounces) Lotus paste**
Black sesame seeds

Directions

Bake in preheated 130°C – 150°C (250°F – 300°F) oven for first 10 minutes, take out & cool for awhile then egg wash and sprinkle tops with a few black sesame seeds.  Return to oven and bake for another 18-22 minutes or till golden on top. Baking time & temperature may vary depending on the type and accuracy of oven. You may need to adjust your oven temperature accordingly.

* Salted duck eggs are a common ingredient in Chinese cooking.  Traditionally, they are preserved whole and raw in brine, and after a few weeks, the salt water draws out the moisture within the egg, concentrating its flavor.  The yolks hardened into bright orange balls.  Find them at your local Chinatown market or brine duck (or chicken) eggs ahead of time at home.
** Lotus seed paste is a sweet and smooth filling made from dried lotus seeds.  Purchase ready-made at your local Chinatown market or make at home.

Resources/Information:

Mooncakes in Modern China, by Meredith Butenhoff, Allyn Wiggins, Hattie Grant, & Brandon Bank (Debunking Myths of China, Furman University, October 25, 2016), article includes recipe & instructions on how-to-make mooncakes
The Right Way to Eat Mooncake, by Ellen Duong (Sampan, August 5, 2016)
‘Mooncake’ (Wikipedia)

 

Sharing holiday recipes includes the family favorite pumpkin breadMore family tradition in the kitchen with fall favorites:
♥ German Chocolate Cupcakes
♥ Pumpkin Bread

 

 

 

 

Feature photo is courtesy of Flickr user, Chee Kweng Teoh, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

SS Mosel

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Peter Albert Reinshagen made the journey from Bremen to New York on the SS Mosel in 1877, joining 2.9 million Germans immigrating to America during the years 1840 – 1880 (the largest group of immigrants in the US at the time). While attempting to track down clues about Peter’s life and death, the first research finding was the dire history of the ship he boarded on a late Spring day.

 

German immigrants board SS Mosel for journey to America

 

The ocean liner SS “Mosel” was built in 1872 by Caird & Co. of Greenock, Scotland for Norddeutscher Lloyd [North German Lloyd], one of the most important German shipping companies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Although a steamship, the Mosel was rigged with sails as was typical during the time period, and at 3+ tons of iron construction, 349 feet long x 40 feet broad, it had service speed of 13 knots via screw propulsion, and accommodations for more than 800 passengers (90 1st class, 126 2nd class, and 600 3rd class).

The ship’s name comes from the Mosel river that flows through France, Luxembourg, and one of Germany’s most beautiful river valleys with terraced vineyard hillsides, wine villages and castle ruins.

Maiden Voyage:  April 1, 1873, Bremen-Southampton-New York

Ship’s Captain and Crew:  August Hermann Friedrich Neynaber (1822-1899), served as captain of the Mosel and many other ocean liners from 1866 to 1881.  The crews of North German Lloyd steamships were most often all German, and the stokers, or “firemen”, with the miserable job of shoveling coal into the furnaces to raise steam for the engines, usually outnumbered sailors two to one.

 

1875 bombing on docks of Bremerhaven resulted in deaths on SS Mosel
“Aftermath of the Mosel Bombing” (1875)

 Catastrophic Crime on December 11, 1875       An infamous 19th century criminal, Alexander Keith, Jr. (aka William King Thomas) masterminded an insurance fraud scheme involving the bombing of ships. In Bremerhaven, Germany, a time bomb Keith had placed in a shipping barrel detonated prematurely when dropped on the dock during loading. Two ships were overturned by the blast, 200 people injured and 80 killed, most aboard the Mosel.

Keith was on board another ship in Bremerhaven at the time of the explosion. After learning of the destruction and deadly consequences of his failed plan, he went to his cabin, shot himself, and died a week later.

May 26, 1877:  Peter Albert began the voyage from Bremen to New York on the SS Mosel.  The trip covers a distance of approximately 3,600 nautical miles, and the average travel time for the Mosel was 9+ days.

Hudson River offshore from Hoboken (Dec. 31, 1889)
Hudson River offshore from Hoboken (Dec. 31, 1889)

While this route is recorded as starting from Bremen, the Mosel is docked and departs from the port city of Bremerhaven (Bremen’s harbor), a major European shipping center during the mid- to late 1800’s.  However, the two cities are closely linked. In 1827, Bremen had purchased land located at the mouth of the Weser river on the North Sea to establish Bremerhaven as its seaport.  Likewise, the Mosel didn’t actually dock in New York, but across the Hudson River from New York, in Hoboken, New Jersey.  On June 30, 1900, a fire at the North German Lloyd piers at Hoboken resulted in many deaths and close to $10 million in damage.

Fire at Sea:  Shortly after leaving Southampton for New York in early October 1879, a fire broke out on the Mosel.  Captain Neynaber and the crew fought flames for more than four hours, saving the ship and her passengers.  The Mosel docked at Hoboken on October 11th.

Wrecked on August 9, 1882:  The Mosel, commanded by Captain Hesse, on its way to New York from Southampton, ran aground on rocks under a signal station at Lizard Point, Cornwall, the most southerly point of mainland Great Britain and a notorious shipping hazard. No lives were lost.

 

Learning about what really happened to my great-grandfather after he immigrated to America from Germany in the 19th century took a lot of genealogical research, and there's still more digging to do. But, I did find Peter, and discovered the cause of his death was not what had been speculated.

Read about the search for answers to the mystery of Peter Carl Reinshagen’s immigrant venture, life and death in America → HERE.

 

 

Information/Statistical Sources:

“Ships of our Ancestors“ by Michael J Anuta
“North Atlantic Seaway: An Illustrated History of the Passenger Services Linking the Old World with the New” by Nigel Reginald Pixell Bonsor (2nd ed. Jersey, Channel Islands: Brookside Publications)
Wikipedia: Norddeutscher Lloyd; Bremerhaven: Attack on the Mosel; German Americans; Bremen; Bremerhaven;  Hoboken, New Jersey
“Bremen Sailors and the German Merchant Marines, North German Lloyd” by Maggie Land Blanck (The Family of Tom Blanck and Maggie Land Black)
“Fire on a Steam-Ship at Sea; The Cargo of the Mosel in Flames”  The New York Times Archives, October 12, 1879
“A Steam-Ship on the Rocks”, The New York Times Archives, August 9, 1882

Feature photo of Lizard Point, Public Domain/Wikimedia
SS Mosel image taken from May 26, 1877 passenger list
Image ‘Aftermath of the Mosel bombing’, Public Domain/Wikimedia
Image ‘Hudson River offshore from Hoboken’ Public Domain/Widimedia

 

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The Overview Effect

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The iconic Earthrise photo was taken in 1968 by NASA astronaut William A. Anders during the Apollo 8 mission, the first manned spaceflight to orbit the Moon. Never before had a human observed the Earth rising, and Anders’ amazing, first-ever color photo of our stunningly beautiful planet emerging from a lunar horizon still takes your breath away.

“We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.” — William A. Anders

 

 

To See The Earth As It Truly Is* 

[su_quote cite=”Frank Borman “]It was very, very sobering to see this little blue marble in the middle of all that darkness.  [/su_quote]

The awe-inspiring effect of seeing the whole Earth from the vantage of space (known as “Earth gazing”) is most often described as an overwhelming sense that Earth is an “interconnected whole with one destiny”. An understanding that’s key to our survival. Of course, we can’t see it and feel it firsthand (only 24 humans out of 7.3 billion world population have had the experience) until space travel becomes practical for the general public, but innovative technology continues to provide us with more and better information and visuals.

The short documentary Overview (from Planetary Collective) explores a cosmic worldview with reflections from “Earth gazing” astronauts and philosophers as well as beautiful space imagery. Watch and be inspired by the “unity and oneness of all life on Earth”.

 

Earthrise: Remembering Apollo 8.  Launched on December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to reach the Moon, orbit it and return, and its crew became the first humans to see and photograph the Earth emerging from behind the lunar horizon.  Watch as the Griffith Lab All Space Considered team recalls the lead up, events and discoveries of this historic mission in celebration of its 50th anniversary.

 

*”To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold — brothers who know now they are truly brothers.” Archibald MacLeish (1892 – 1982) American poet

A beautiful view of planet Earth captured by NASA satelliteTake a virtual ride on a satellite for awesome views of Earth 

 

 

 

Apollo 17 photo taken December 13, 1972 on the lunar surface
Moonwalk (December 13, 1972) NASA

Want to see more of what’s out there in space?  The short video documentary, “The Last Steps” will take you to a ‘back to the future’ moment in time with original film footage, photographs and audio recordings from Apollo 17, NASA’s final Apollo program mission, and the last time a human walked on the moon. Watch more “out of this world” videos via the “Cosmos Channel“, free to watch, on-demand.

 

 

Since its launch 20 years ago and 2004 Saturn orbit insertion, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft has provided images that have led to significant discoveries.A retrospective look at discoveries and images of Saturn
captured during the 20 year Cassini Mission, plus some
info on when and how you can see Saturn in 2017

 

 

 

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“The Overview Effect” is an edited version of an article originally published on the “Zblog” by Zeester Media LLC.

Earthrise photo credit:  NASA

Lost in Wars

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“The sun has gone
A long time ago
We’re waiting for the dawn
That will never show
Our hearts are getting hard
Souls covered by scars
We are made of stars
But we are lost in wars”

                                                                                                       —  Battle Beast, Lost in Wars

 

2nd LT John Robert Holt, Jr (1978-2009) was a graduate of Luther Burbank High School in San Antonio, Texas and the University of Texas – San Antonio.  He served as a US Army combat medic in Iraq, and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.

In the short video documentary, Vincent Valdez:  Excerpts for John, produced by filmmakers, Mark and Angela Walley, Vincent tells the story of his friendship with John Holt while he works to create a memorial to John and all the soldiers ‘lost in the fog of war’.

San Antonio native, Vincent Valdez, is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, and a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for Painters and Sculptors.  He focuses his creative work on cultural and historical themes with contemporary portrayals of human struggle, loss, sacrifice, war and injustice.  In recognition of excellence in the arts, Valdez was designated a ‘Texas State Artist’ in 2015 by the Texas State Legislature.  Exhibitions and collections include:  Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Ford Foundation, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The National Portrait Gallery, Blanton Museum of Art, Parsons Paris, Bullock Texas State History Museum, OSDE Buenos Aires, the McNay Art Museum and Southwest School of Art.  [Vincent Valdez website →here]

John, oil-on-canvas by Vincent Valdez, 2010-2012.  It’s an intimate portrait of Vincent’s friend “in the midst of battle, an explosion and billowing smoke behind him, his eyes focused on an ominous sight that is invisible to the viewer and that anticipates John’s demise.” (Taina Caragol, co-curator, The Face of Battle: Americans at War)

Excerpts for John (2012) depicts the unfolding sequence of events and emotions Vincent Valdez experienced during his friend’s military funeral in a series of paintings created as an homage to Lieutenant Holt and “a eulogy for those who can’t find their way home”.

Information/Resources:

After more than a decade of war in the Middle East, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has become a critical health concern among American war veterans as the number seeking help for PTSD has dramatically increased and the number of suicides exceeded 6,000 each year during the years 2008-17.*

Soldiers of Conscience, Q&A What is PTSD & how to get help, PBS (October 2008)
National Center for PTSD:  US Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Families United: PTSD healing resources and helpful reference materials for veterans & families
*2019 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report

 

In this collection of video documentaries, artists reveal thoughts and feelings about their work and living a creative life.Artists reveal thoughts and feelings about their work
and living a creative life in “Creative Perspectives”,
an On2In2™ collection of videos– FREE To WATCH, On-Demand

 

 

 

 

Go to next → Watch:  Introspection, an On2In2™ collection of videos featuring personal reflections on life that will move and inspire you — FREE To WATCH, On-Demand

 

 

 

 

 

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Feature photo is a screen shot taken from the video, Vincent Valdez:  Excerpts for John, produced by Walley Films

Activist Arts

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“If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him… We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.” — John F. Kennedy

Throughout history, art has been created by people for many different reasons and purposes, both non-motivated (no specific-purpose other than a basic human instinct to create) and motivated (e.g., the artist intends to communicate a specific emotion, comment on an aspect of society, or bring about political or cultural change), and works of art have often been controversial for a variety of reasons, provoking intense debate, criticism and indignation as well as influencing new ideas and shifts in prevailing sentiment.

An art movement is art with a specific common goal among a group of artists for a certain period of time (months, years or decades).  There have been many diverse art movements during the 19th and 20th centuries, their meanings and objectives explained by the artists involved in the movement or art critics and historians.

In the US, the ‘60s were years of social unrest and cultural change, and contemporary artists responded to the turmoil and addressed the issues by producing creative works of activism.  The Black Arts Movement (1965-75), aka Black Aesthetics Movement or BAM, emerged when a group of African American artists were inspired by the Black Power movement to create expressive works of poetry, novels, visual arts, and theater that reflected pride in black history and culture and explored the African American experience as a means of arousing black consciousness.  Although it began in New York, BAM spread across the country and influenced a generation of artists.

In Southern California, the Black Arts Movement generated new forms of artistic and cultural expression and the development of community-based arts organizations in an effort to end discrimination in entertainment industries and focus attention on the conditions within black working class neighborhoods.

In her book South of Pico*, MacArthur winner and Columbia University professor Kellie Jones explores how artists in Los Angeles black communities during the 1960s and 1970s created a vibrant, engaged activist arts scene amidst racism and social upheaval. Building on her research and work on the Hammer Museum exhibition Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960–1980, Dr. Jones, along with a discussion panel including UCLA professor Robin D.G. Kelly, will expand your understanding of the history of black arts in Los Angeles and beyond.  If you missed the live broadcast of this event, there’s still time to watch a video recording.  Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button or the post located on the video player below ↓

 

Creative PerspectivesPoetry reading for On2In2™ inspiration is live – artists reveal thoughts and feelings about their work and living a creative life in this On2In2™ video collection, available to watch free & on-demand.

 

 

 

Online crowdsourcing art history project allows everyone to browse and transcribe archives of artistsFind out how you can help with art history research right from home, and discover the life of an artist using a very cool, free to
use online tool “AnnoTate”

 

 

 

Information/Resources:

Political Change from the 1960’s to Now:  Connections Between Arts and Activist Movements by Andrea Assuf (The Public Humanist, Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, October 30, 2009)
On Black Aesthetics:  The Black Arts Movement by Candice Frederick (New York Public Library, July 15, 2016)
The Black Arts Movement (blacklist.org)
Witness:  Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties (Brooklyn Museum)
Wikipedia (Art and Art movement)

*Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission for a book purchase you make via the link within this page. This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.

 

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Feature photo is courtesy of Pixabay CC0

Beautiful & Fascinating

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The memory of my grandmother, an avid ‘up-cycler’, carefully cutting off buttons from the family’s time-worn clothes and saving both the buttons and fabric for future use, is what probably inspired me to hold onto buttons.  Kept in a zip storage bag, my eclectic assortment has grown slowly over the years — It isn’t a large or valuable collection.  In fact, many of the buttons are quite ordinary, but they are uniquely mine, taken from my wardrobe, and they’ve become a collection of memories as well as a personal style timeline.  I’ve also used some of the buttons for arts and crafts projects, and they’ve often come in handy for button replacement.

“Le bouton est non seulement indispensable, mais capable d’enjoliver un vêtement, de le personnaliser et de lui apporter la touche finale.” *— Herbert de Givenchy, Introduction to Boutons by Loïc Allio (2001)  *The button is not only indispensable, but capable of beautifying a piece of clothing, of personalizing it and giving it the final touch. (Translation by Caroline Baumann, Director of Cooper Hewitt Museum)

Buttons have been placed on clothing as ornamentation for thousands of years, and crafted in a variety of ways by artisans and artists or manufactured in low and high-tech factories from every imaginable material, making these small objects significant in fields of decorative arts and design, fashion, visual art, and arts and crafts as well as archeology and materials technology.

Beautiful and Fascinating!  Long admired for the artistry as well as historical value, button collecting began centuries ago and is still a popular hobby today.  The photo gallery below includes just a few examples from extraordinary button collections.

 

 

See More Glass Buttons (1700–1951, American or European) from the Hanna S. Kohn Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
→ Gallery 1
→ Gallery 2
→ Gallery 3

See More Wood Buttons (1900-20, American or European) from the Hanna S. Kohn Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
→ Gallery 4

The Cooper Hewitt button collection is amazing, and available to view online → HERE

Inspired Button Art – “I hold the button to my ear and it whispers to me, “I want to be…..” Augusto Esquivel creates sculptures from buttons, and he shares his work and creative process → Augusto Mucho Gusto website

Button Jacket by Kenneth D. King

Kenneth D. King created this stunning jacket using some of the 75 pounds of antique uniform buttons he inherited. [Pinterest pin “Using Buttons As Embellishment” by Threads Magazine]

 

 

 

 

   

Information/Resources:
Button Society Websites & Contacts – List of button society websites and contacts by country and US states
Button, Button, We’ve Got the Button(s)! by Margery Masinter (Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Buttons: In the Collection of the Cooper Hewitt Museum by Carl Christian Dauterman (The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Design, 1982)
Hammond-Turner & Sons – Button Galleries – an online museum displaying buttons manufactured by Hammond Turner & Sons (and related companies), button makers of Birmingham (and Manchester), England.  Created by Lesley Close, a descendant of one of the owners of the company.
The Waterbury Button Museum – More than 3,000 buttons are on permanent display in the Button Gallery of the Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, Connecticut
Déboutonner la mode (Unbutton Fashion), Les Arts Décoratifs exhibit presentation
Boutons, Decorative Arts Museum (Les Arts Décoratifs), Paris, France
Lucie Rie: Ceramics & Buttons Exhibit (22 June 2018 – 12 May 2019, Centre of Ceramic Art at York Art Gallery, UK
European Fashion Project – Buttons, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Keep Homestead Museum – Button Collection, Monson, Massachusetts – The vast collection is exhibited on a rotating basis, but on permanent display is a wonderful collection of mosaic buttons.

 

Button Button: Identification and Price Guide* is a well-organized guide recommended by the Button Society as a book that every button collector and dealer should own.

 

 

 

Buttons: The Collector’s Guide to Selecting, Restoring, and Enjoying New and Vintage Buttons* shows and describes fabric, metal, glass, ceramic, enamel, plastic, and uniform buttons along with the history of buttons.

 

 

 

Buttons by Diana Epstein and Millicent Safro* looks at the authors’ collections of buttons, describing their history and value as art.

 

 

 

 

Creating art with buttons is a fun arts and crafts project.
ⓒ Button Art by Zola Zeester

FREE To WATCH: Collector Confessions – A diverse group of engaging collectors tell their stories about lifelong passions for objects. [Videos on Demand]

 

 

 

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*Zeester Media LLC may receive a small commission for a book purchase you make via a link within this page.  This in no way affects the price you pay for the purchase.
Feature photo “My Button Collection” © Zeester Media LLC, 2015-18

The Bigger Picture

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Henry Tate (1819-1899) was an English industrialist and philanthropist.  Starting his business career as a grocer with an apprenticeship at 13 years old, Tate made a fortune in sugar refinery, and was known for his humble nature and generous charitable donations in support of health and education causes. In 1889, he offered to donate his collection of 65 contemporary paintings to the British government on the condition the collection be displayed in a suitable gallery.  As there was no gallery space available at the time, Tate also offered £80,000 toward the building of a new gallery.  His donation toward construction of the gallery eventually reached the sum of £150,000. (An unverified guesstimate as we’re talking about an amount equivalent to US$20+ million in today’s money.)

Photo by Tony Hisgett CC BY 2.0
Photo byTony Hisgett CC BY 2.0

The Tate Gallery, now Tate Britain, first opened to the public on July 21, 1897 as the “National Gallery of British Art” in central London at the site of the former Millbank Penitentiary (1816-90), a prison that had served as a holding facility for convicts prior to transport to penal colonies in Australia. At the opening, a total of 245 art works dating back to 1790 (including the Tate collection) were displayed in eight rooms within a grand new building featuring a central dome and classical portico entrance topped by a pitched gable mounted with symbolic statuary of Britannia, the Lion and the Unicorn.

It was the launch of what has become a network of four Tate art museums holding the UK’s national collection of British art (from 1500 to present day) as well as international modern and contemporary art:  Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool, Tate St Ives (closed until Spring 2017).  Each is unique, and there is always something fun going on;  special events and exhibitions, films, performances, special tours, talks and lectures.  General admission is free; there’s a charge for some exhibitions and events.  Tate also offers an extensive digitized art and archival collection, part of an initiative designed to make art more accessible to the public by utilizing new technologies and media.

Discover the Life of an Artist

In September 2015, Tate introduced “AnnoTate”, an innovative web-based crowdsourcing transcription tool that allows online users to get directly involved with art history research by browsing and transcribing a collection of digitized handwritten documents from the Tate archival collection, including artists’ letters, diaries, notes, journals and sketch books.

The process of transcribing is somewhat similar to deciphering a secret code depending upon the condition of the document and quality of handwriting, and it’s also fascinating to view these personal writings and learn details of an artist’s life and work.  Using AnnoTate, you can get involved in this important research (no art history education or experience required) – any time, any place, choose from two different approaches:

Start Transcribing.  Jump right in and start transcribing items at random (links are provided so that you can learn more about the artist and context of an art work); or

Find Artists.  Select an artist from a list and focus transcribing the writings of a specific artist.

Do as much or as little as you wish; work at your own pace. The amount of time you put in is totally at your discretion. [A word of caution: AnnoTate users have reported that transcribing can be addicting! ]

 

In this collection of video documentaries, artists reveal thoughts and feelings about their work and living a creative life.You’ll find inspiration in this collection of selected videos about contemporary artists and their work— Creative Perspectives –FREE to watch, on-demand

 

 

 

Learning about what really happened to my great-grandfather after he immigrated to America from Germany in the 19th century took a lot of genealogical research, and there's still more digging to do. But, I did find Peter, and discovered the cause of his death was not what had been speculated.Researching family history can be quite an adventure, and the
discoveries both heartrending and joyous → The story of Finding Peter   

 

 

 

 

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Information/Resources:
History page, Tate website
Wikipedia:  Henry Tate, Millbank Prison, Tate Britain
MeasuringWorth.com

 

Feature photo courtesy of Pexel CC0