Today is the day before Christmas Eve which is the day before our family gathers to celebrate together. Unfortunately, the weather is turning on us and may cause travel problems tomorrow. We’ll plan as usual and hope for the best.


I have had a few minutes to continue reading up on Alsace history and am beginning to get a feel for what living in that area during Charles & Salome’s childhoods might have been like. I’m sure the constant turmoil would have been sensed within the family groups.

One interesting read – in part – was published just before our couple came to America and found in at Google Books at

FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT,

BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 55 CORNHILL. PHILADELPHIA: QUAKER-CITY PUBLISHING-HOUSE. CHICAGO: JAMBS P. SNTSLL. BAN FRANCISCO: A. L. BANCROFT 85 CO. PORT HOPE, ONT.: P. R. RANDALL & CO. 1872

Another book proving very helpful is

Alsace-Lorraine under German Rule by Charles Downer Hazen.

New York: Henry Holt and Company; 1917.

This one is found at http://www.archive.org/stream/alsacelorraineun00hazeuoft#page/n5/mode/2up.

Of course, my real focus at the moment is the party but that will be over soon and the relative quiet of winter will be upon us.