Presidents Letter – Apr 2011
Yeah, the snow is gone. The daffodils are in bloom. Those of you who have never seen my property, I have hundreds of daffodils. For many years I shopped the 75% off bulb sales in November and each year added another hundred or so. Of course daffodils multiply. I sure wish the wind and cold would stop so I could go outside and enjoy them.
I haven’t heard any more news about May Days in Luckey. I know that the event occurs May 21st. We have not had our spring bake sale yet this year. Last year we had it Mother’s Day weekend. This year I thought that it might be fun to have a cookie sale at the May Days event. It is to be held at Basic Park this year. If we put the cookies in plastic bags with just one or two cookies I think that people might buy them to eat there in the park. I will try to get more information and make necessary arrangements before out next meeting. Our next meeting is May 19th, just two days before the event.
At our last meeting we mentioned the possibility of a tea in May. We usually have the tea the Thursday after our meeting. That means our tea will be May 26th at 1:30 in the library. This is a good time to come and talk about old times and enjoy the photos that we have collected. KEEP LOOKING FOR THOSE OLD PHOTOS. I haven’t had many new additions in the last month or so.
If the weather cooperates we will be able to do the interior touch up painting at the Town Hall. We still do not have any word from the city as to when the exterior will be painted. Dave Derr is in the process of talking with North Branch Nursery in regards to helping the society with landscaping around the Town Hall.
April meeting cancelled.
Next meeting Thurs. May 19thth at 6:30 in the Luckey Library over and out
May Days in Luckey May 21st – cookie sale
Tea – Thurs. May 26th at 1:30 in the Luckey Library Sally
Although the earliest head stone found in our Troy Township Cemetery here in Luckey is 1855, few burials, either family or neighbors, were made prior to the formation of the Troy Cemetery Association in 1864. Prior to the formation of the Troy Cemetery, many people of the Luckey area were buried at Salem. The Salem Lutheran Church was built in 1853 and the cemetery is located directly south of the church. The cemetery is only 150 feet by 150 feet. Burials began on the north side of the cemetery plot (nearest the church) and proceeded in the order of the parishioners’ deaths. The oldest area consists primarily of single stones.
The inscriptions on the gravestones are often in German script and sometimes include relationship information. Below is a list of German script and interpretation.
seine gattin …………his wife gest. or gestorben………………..died
seine frau……………..his wife die kinder von…………..children of
ehefrau……… ………..his wife alter………………………..age
sohn von ……………….son of jarhe or J. …………………year
tochter von…………..daughter of monat or M. ………………..months
mutter……………………mother tage or T. ………………………days
vater………………………father u. ………………………..and
geb. or geboren……born
Should a researcher not find a marker, information may be found in carefully kept church records. Aside from several broken or unreadable stones earlier burials were marked with wooden crosses or boards, which have disappeared. A story is told that some of the broken stones were thrown into the woods by early caretakers too lazy to reset them. A few graves were never given markers. If the family died after 1867 information is most likely recorded in the Kirchen Buch, in the Leichen Register, a listing of funerals performed.
THE KIRCHEN BUCH
The Kirchen Buch is the register of the Salem Lutheran Church. It contains four very valuable types of information as listed below.
Tauf Register……………………………Baptismal List
Confirmanden Register…………..Confirmation List
Hochzeit Register……………………Wedding List
Leichen Register………………………Funeral List
All records in the Kirchen Buch begin in late 1867 and some of the burials in the cemetery occurred before this date. The entries are in German script, changing to English in the World War II era. The records include birthplace, cause of death, other family members, location of burial if not in this cemetery, and undecipherable swirls and squiggles. This book has been microfilmed and is available at the Pemberville Public Library as well as the Center for Archival Collections at the Bowling Green State University Library.
The first two acres of the Troy Township Cemetery were purchased from Cyrenius Goodell for $100. G. F. Claus was the first president and Raymond Claus was the clerk of the Troy Township Cemetery Association. The records from 1896 to 1940 were lost when the Claus store was lost in a fire. People in the community did their best to recreate the lost records. Our Luckey Library holds a booklet containing the names, birth, and death information of individuals where available. I am in the process of scanning the booklet so that the LHS will also have a copy available.