Super Sister Sunday: The Engel Sisters

Helen, Kathryn, Alice, and Myrtle Engel

Christian Engel and Edith Gibson Engel had 5 children. - 4 girls and 1 baby brother.  These 4 girls and the little brother Johnny, although born in Ness Kansas, grew up in the early part of the 20th century in Long Beach California....each went on to marry and have between 2 and 3 children. Johnny, the baby brother, maried but he and his Mary did not have any children.  He was the ultimate Uncle Johnny to all the nieces and nephews.  We honor this great family who stayed close until the end. I've always felt so proud to be a part of this extended family.  What a loving family they are. 

Mary Post Warren

copyright 2011, all rights reserved

Super Sister Sunday - Mary Motzko and Hedvig Lucy Motzko

My third in my series on Super Sister Sunday spotlights my maternal grandmother (Mary Motzko) and her sister Hattie Motzko.  Mary and Hattie were child number 3 and 4 in a family of 10 children.  Although all the Motzko children were friends and playmates Mary and Hattie were close in age and were closer than usual. I assume (not necessarily fact) that their older sisters Catherine and Anna were more the 'grown up children' in the family and helped raise the younger ones.  I'm sure that Mary and Hattie eventually moved into this role but at their earliest ages Mary and Hattie were able play together easily. As teens they had each other to commiserate with - boys, marrying someday, having babies of their own - all the things that young girls chat about.

Mary was born in September 1883 and Hattie was born in October 1885....I can just vision Mary trying to be a little mother to Hattie. My views of what life was like in the mid-1880's is very "Little House on the Prairie-ish". Growing up in Minnesota and Idaho with lots of siblings close to your age, everyone helping everyone else, the older helping with and playing with the younger...maybe a few cousins living on a farm down the road.  Life was not easy for them and I'm not sure I know I could not have been as strong as the Motzko family.

The two pictures posted are Mary and Hattie at youngest age available.  Mary is 15 in this picture and Hattie is 23.  I wish I had others at younger ages.  I have group pictures with all or some of the family but not many individual pics.

You can read Hattie and Mary's full stories by clicking on these links:

Mary Motzko Troyer

Hedvig Lucy Motzko Gleason

Hedvig Lucy Motzko Revisited





Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved

Super Sister Sunday - Maria and Francesca Fietzek

Two of the super-'est' sisters of all in my maternal line are my great-grandmother, Maria Fietzek and her sister Francesca Fietzek.  They traveled together with Maria's husband Philipp Motzko and Philipp's and Maria's baby daughter, Catherina, from Germany to Minnesota United States in the early 1880's.

Through most of my research on Maria I feared she came to a foreign land with no one other than her husband and child.  What a sense of relief  I felt when I discovered that Francesca had came to the United States at the same time.  Maria and Francesca had each other to commiserate with while their husbands went off to work, and while the women stayed home and raised the children.  The thought of Maria being on her own without another woman friend, who spoke her language, was hard for me to understand.  Maria never learned to speak English (according to her grand-daughter - Dorothy Troyer Haines). 

I do not have any information on Francesca - some day hopefully that will change.  I'm not sure if she was married or had children at the time they all sailed to the United States.  She did marry at sometime as she is listed as Francesca Fietzek Reh with the few pictures I have of her among Maria's photos.

My love goes out to these two very strong Polish women who came to the new country, fought all the trials and tribulations and did without so that their descendants could have an easier life than they did.

Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved





Super Sister Sunday

I got this idea of "Super Sister Sunday" from fellow blogger of  'Mary Jane's Gene'. I've got many sisters in my genealogy searching and hope to do a series on these sisters.

There were six Motzko sisters, all shown here in the photo...four brothers - Philipp Jr, Frank, John, and Thomas - rounded out the group.  You can read each of their stories by clicking on the links below:

Catherina Motzko

Johanna Cecila Motzko (Anna)

Mary Motzko

Hedvig Lucy Motzko (Hattie)

Theresa Motzko 

Frances Rose Motzko

Sister

Having a sister in your life can either be a wonderful or terrible experience, depending on your relationship. If you have an older sister and you are a girl, she can often show you how to navigate the way through some of the more difficult areas of growing up. This is also true if you are a boy. Your older sister can help explain to you how to interact with the opposite sex. Younger sisters are a joy as well. They often worship their older siblings and it can be a nice experience to be admired. Relationships with sisters, like any relationship depend on the people involved.

Sister By Family Friend Poems / CC BY 3.0





Mary Post Warren

© copyright 2010, all rights reserved