The Past Remembering the Past

 

After scanning all the pictures, I turned my sights on some of the smaller loose things in my tub of Clara Kuck's belongings. I found her birth registration, a Christmas card, a baby book for her grand niece Beth and two of the above books. They are just slightly smaller than three inches by five inches and came new with about 20 pages of blank paper. One belonged to Clara and one belonged to her older sister Bertha. 

They were given in 1888 when Clara was around 5 and Bertha 7 so the inscriptions were likely written by their mother Elizabeth and indeed, the first pages of both are notes written by Elizabeth too her daughters. Clara's book reads, "My dearest Clara, Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Your loving Mother, Elizabeth." Beneath that is the date November 2, 1888. 

On the rest of the twenty pages are more notes of similar nature written by family and friends, some of which are unknown to me and will require a bit of research to figure out. One that especially stood out was a page on which Elizabeth Brandau, Clara's maternal grandmother had written and with AI translation says, "Dear granddaughter Clara! Love your parents and be very obedient to them, and also do not forget your grandparents. This is the wish of your grandparents. Adam & Elisabeth Landau." I'm not sure why the L instead of a B unless perhaps cursive letters were confused but it is unmistaken who wrote it.

Not all these pages were written when Clara was five. Some were dated as far back as 1892 when Clara would have been around nine years old. Many have no dates upon them. However, tucked into the pages of the book were five other pages of different color and texture and had gold edges but that isn't what caught my interest. The first one I'll share was written by Clara herself back to her mother.

Transcribing it says in the top left margin, "Forget me not." The main body of it says, "Dear Mother. There is one firend only, all others will fail. 'Tis Jesus who leads us, Safe through the vale. Your Daughter, Clara Kuck"  and it is dated 1894 when she would have been around 11 years old. It is clear that Clara's parents were religious and she was brought up in their mold.

The next one really caught my attention.

Below is the transcription: 

Lizzie,
Trust in God when days are bright,
Trust him in the darkest night,
Trust him in the deepest sorrow,
Trust today and trust tomorrow.
Your true friend,
Annie S. Kuck
Dec. 20th 1877 (Died, Dec. 14th 1878)

This note is sort of the tie that binds her side of the family with mine. Annie is the daughter of John and first wife Mary whom I descend from and died at age 17 of diphtheria along with four of her siblings and mother Mary. Up until recently, Annie and her four siblings have mostly just been names in a tragic chapter of my third great grandfather. John remarried and had more children and I always wondered if he spoke of that sad chapter with them and he must since this paper was in Clara's possessions along with a piano book which I have yet to share. 

There is another loose page that was apparently wrote by Adam Brandau to one of his children, possibly Clara's mother Elizabeth. Translated it says, "Remain pios and hold yourself upright, for such people will fare well in the end. Your father, Adam Brandau." This sort of leads me to believe that these sorts of books were a tradition, either of the time, to the German culture of that era or just to this particular family.

The last one I'll share is very similar though written by Elisabeth to one of her children, likely Elizabeth. It reads, "All your life keep God before your eyes and in your heart, and take care that you consent to no sin, nor act against God's commandments. Your mother Elisabeth. Dec 26th, 1877." At the time, Elizabeth was unmarried and my 3rd great grandfather was still married to Mary Meyer Kuck who had a little over a year to live at that point but didn't know it. 

Just to give you a visual, above is one of a couple of pictures of Adam and Elisabeth Brandau that were in Clara's things. Elisabeth died in 1894 when Clara was only around 11 years old  but Adam would live until 1906 when Clara was around 23. That is most likely why she has a lot more pictures of Adam. I can't recall off the top of my head why Adam lost his eye but I know somewhere in my research, I have come across something explaining that. Most of his older pictures though have one lens of his glasses blacked out.