3601
Only 7,000 dead and wounded
Today I was reading about the Battle of St. Mihiel in northeastern France in September 1918 during WWI. The chart says there were low losses--only 7,000 between the Americans and the Germans in the one week campaign. Usually I don't use Wikipedia as a source, but WWI battles are pretty well researched.

"For all historians, the battle of Saint-Mihiel is an example of advancing an army against one that preferred to leave a difficult to supply bulge. Overall casualties were low as defense was mainly rear-guard oriented. Strategically it was good news for the Allies. Compared to huge battles such as Verdun or the Somme, this was merely a skirmish. Its real importance is in the huge boost that this advance had on the US and Allied morale."

I had looked up this battle because in reading War Record of Mount Morris I noticed a WWII veteran from our town, Eli Raney, I considered "old" when I was young (although truthfully, I thought anyone over 25 was old). Born in 1892, he was 50 when he reenlisted during WWII and he served 14 months in frontline construction in New Guinea and the Philippines. So I flipped to the back of the book for his WWI service and see that he was a member of Company D, of the 104th infantry, and arrived in France in August 1918, just in time to be in this battle in September. He was not among the wounded, but was wounded in the Argonne campaign.

This is a public service announcement for the war protestors and peaceknickers who forget that most people don't want sons and brothers lost in battle, certainly not one that historians see as a "morale boost." Our recent marchers in Washington want the US to shame the memories of those who've died and to run out on the people it has liberated.

Iraq WarSource URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Mt.%20Morris
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Monday Memories--Little Alma Fay

Some time in the 1990s I heard about Alma Fay, baby daughter of my great grandparents, born in Illinois after they left Tennessee. The story I heard from my father is that grand dad, as he called him, sold the little property in Tennessee left to him upon the death of his mother, and had a choice to take his family to either Texas or Illinois where he knew someone in both states. Apparently, the train to Illinois came through Dandridge first so the family got on board, and he and his large family became part of the core group who moved north for new opportunities. Many friends and relatives followed, including my grandfather, his brother and his cousin who married three of grand dad’s daughters, and he'd help each family get established. When the large Tennessee Reunions were held in northern Illinois in the 1920s - 1940s, my family was probably related to most of them. Four babies were born after the move, although I never heard my grandmother mention little Alma (her sister). Uncle Orville told me she was born in 1908, but that’s all I knew. Then a few years ago my friend Sylvia and her husband were cleaning up the cemetery records for Plain View where my great grandparents, grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and sister are buried, and she sent me a photo with the birth and death dates.

I haven't become inspired by this week's Poetry Thursday topic, a version of the "dictionary game," but I thought I'd write an elegy for baby Alma. It is a word you don't hear often. Stay tuned or come back to visit on Thursday.

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3357 Are you from Podunk?

For you non-USA'ns, "Podunk" is a synonym for the town from nowhere--too small to matter. Except to the people who live there. I grew up in two lovely Podunks, Forreston and Mt. Morris in Ogle County, Illinois, in the northern part of the state, close enough to Wisconsin and Iowa that we sometimes took Sunday afternoon drives to those states. Here is a website that's lots of fun, called epodunk.com where you can search out information about your little town. There are also Podunk sites for Canada and Ireland.

It appears to me now in 2007 that Forreston is the more attractive of the two, but when I was living there (1946-1951), Mt. Morris was twice the size and had the better business district, nicer homes, paved streets and more advanced schools. In those days Mt. Morris had a thriving publishing and magazine distribution industry--actually they are still there--but experienced a devastating strike in the 1970s, and the town has been slipping since. Even today, many libraries have subscriptions addressed to Mt. Morris. Statistically, the 2000 census still shows Mt. Morris with the higher median income and home values, but it essentially no longer has a school system, which really gutted the town of community spirit. Meanwhile, Forreston has diversified with small businesses, rallied its voters for bond issues, made itself a wonderful place to buy real estate and settle down, and has moved on. Both towns have housing stock with median range far below the national average.

The funny little picture on the Mt. Morris epodunk site is actually a post card of Pine Creek, IL where my dad grew up. It is closer to Dixon (home of Pres. Reagan) than Mt. Morris. Not sure how they select the graphics.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Mt.%20Morris
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3351 Monday Memories--Grandmother's Hymnal

One of the books I inherited that means a lot to me is my maternal grandmother's hymnal. Here is what we librarians call the bibliographical information and a description of it. I have a 115 page list of my grandparents books which I used for various publications I wrote when I was working. (Aren't you pleased I'm not listing them all?).

The word "Brethren" refers to "Church of the Brethren" an Anabaptist group, although at the time this title was printed, they just referred to themselves as "Brethren." The official term was German Baptist Brethren at that time. My family spoke German for about the first 100 years they were in this country (giving it up around the 1820s) and the Brethren printed the first European language Bible in the colonies--but it was in German, not English.

I used a wonderful program called "Notebook" to make this list, which I no longer have or know how to use (lots of DOS type commands), and could sort by author, title, date, publisher, subject or keyword. Any time you complain about the hymns your church is using--just take a look at what your denomination was singing 100 years ago. It's an eye-opener.



Brethren's Tune and Hymn Book: Being a Compilation of Sacred Music Adapted to All the Psalms, Hymns, and
Spiritual Songs in the Brethren's Hymn Book. Carefully revised, rearranged and otherwise improved. Mt. Morris, IL: The Brethren's Publishing House, 1894. no. 11

Subject: Brethren--Hymnbooks

Notes: Script: "Mary L. George, Ashton, Illinois."
This is a reprint of the 1879 "The Brethren's Hymnbook"
edited by J.C. Ewing, the first hymnbook with four-part
harmony, copyright by Quinter and Brumbaugh Brothers.
James Quinter selected songs from earlier editions.
Today we would recognize few of the hymns in this book.
The Brethren's Publishing House was privately owned.
In 1897 all rights and titles were turned over to the
Church's General Missionary and Tract Committee and it
moved to Elgin. When the Kable Brothers started their
printing venture in Mt. Morris, they used the printing
plant. ("Brethren Press," Brethren Encyclopedia, Vol.
1:193)



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My visitors and those I'll visit this week are:Anna, Becki, Chelle, Chelle Y., Cozy Reader, Debbie, Friday's Child, Gracey, Irish Church Lady, Janene, Janene in Ohio, Jen, Katia, Lady Bug, Lazy Daisy, Ma, Mrs. Lifecruiser, Melli, Michelle, Paul, Susan, Viamarie.Source URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Mt.%20Morris
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Friday Family Photo


Look at these little sweethearts, all dressed up in their caps and gowns to move up to the primary Sunday School class. I'm not sure of the year--maybe 1944 or 1945. We are standing there on the steps of the Mt. Morris Church of the Brethren, squinting into the sun. I'm the one with brown shoes and no curls, sigh. It really stunted my fashion sense. It was probably the only pair of shoes I had, and Deb and Barb and Diane also in the front row, being the only girls in their families, probably had two pair of shoes. All except Dick finished grade school and high school together. His father died and his mother remarried and moved away. My family moved away too in 1946, but came back when I was in 6th grade, and this is where I was baptized when I was 12 years old.

By the mid-1950s the church was bursting; the baby boom and a talented young preacher brought in many new members, especially young families. Our Sunday School class probably tripled. So a decision was made to build a new facility with a large sanctuary and 3 floors of classroom, a chapel, special youth room for the CBYF with a fireplace, a big commercial grade kitchen, fellowship hall, a library, offices for the staff, lots of parking and so forth. My parents were in their early 40s and were involved in every stage of building the new church, from raising money to sewing drapes and picking out paint colors. The building where this photo was taken was sold to a small group just getting started in Mt. Morris, the Evan Free.

Their roles are reversed now. The Evan Free is filling the old church, and the big Church of the Brethren has many empty pews and classrooms and an aging congregation. The young people who built it are now the elderly with special needs. I'm not a member there, so I have nothing to say, but I have heard many good things about their new pastor who just started a few months ago and that is hopeful.

Church of the Brethren
Mt. Morris, Illinois
Sunday School
vintage photographsSource URL: https://maryelizabeth-winstead.blogspot.com/search/label/Mt.%20Morris
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