Who Was the First President Your Ancestors Could Vote For?

Katherine R. Willson of Social Media for Genealogy wrote a post yesterday, My Grandparents' First U.S. Presidental Election. It made me want to take a look and see who my parents, grandparents and great grandparents could have voted for in their very first election. Thank you, Katherine for such a great idea! 

Now, I have chosen to include my great grandparents, because my great grandmothers' would have been the first women in my family able to vote in a presidential election. 

My Great Grandparent's

My paternal great grandfather's are William Points Williams who was born in 1877 and Robert Lincoln Rich who was born in 1885. They would have been able to vote in their first elections in 1900 at the age of 25 and at age 23 in 1908 respectively. The candidates for the 1900 elections were William McKinley (Rep.), William J. Ryan (Dem. People's Party) and Eugene V. Debs (Socialist). The candidates for the 1908 elections were William H. Taft (Rep.), William J. Bryan (Dem.) and Eugene V. Debs (Socialist).

My maternal great grandfather's are William Joseph Rueff, Jr who born in 1874 and Dr Raymond Alexander Behrle who was born in 1880. They would have been able to vote in their first elections in 1896 and 1904 respectively. The candidates for the 1896 were William McKinley (Rep.), William J. Bryan (Dem. People's Party), John M. Palmer (National Democrats) and Joshua Levering (Prohibitionist). The candidates for the 1904 elections were Theodore Roosevelt (Rep.), Alton B. Parker (Dem.) and Eugene V. Debs (Socialist). 

My paternal great grandmother's are, Sarah Elizabeth (Lucas) Williams was born in 1879 and Lillian Bergamot (Lanahan) Rich was born in 1886. My maternal great grandmother's are Ann Marie (Kirn) Rueff was born in 1874 and Pauline (Orth) Behrle was born in 1888. All of these women would be able to vote in the 1920 elections Sarah would have been 41, Lillian would have been 34, Ann would have been 46 and Pauline would have been 32. The candidates for the 1920 elections were Warren G. Harding (Rep.), James M. Cox (Dem.), and Eugene V. Debs (Socialist).

My Grandparents

My paternal grandparents are William Elmer Williams and Peggy Scott (Rich) Williams. William was born in 1910 and Peggy in 1911. Both William and Peggy would have been able to vote in the 1932 election. The candidates for the 1932 election were Franklin D. Roosevelt (Dem.), Herbert Hoover (Rep.) and Norman Thomas (Socialist).

My maternal grandparents are George Kenneth Rueff and Mary Myrtle (Behrle) Rueff. George was born in 1905 and Myrtle was born in 1913. George would have been able to vote in the 1932 elections as well. Myrtle's first election would not be until 1936 and the candidates for that election were Franklin D. Roosevelt (Dem.), Alfred M. Landon (Rep.) and Norman Thomas (Socialist). 

Peggy was 8 years old and Myrtle was 6 years old when the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1919 giving women the right to vote. I can't help but wonder if they were even aware of such an important amendment to our Constitution at those ages. Knowing what I know of my great grandmothers I don't believe any of them participated in the women's suffrage movement, at least no evidence I have been able to find anyway to support that they did.

My Parents

My Mom and Dad would be married for a little over 5 years before they would be able to vote in their first election in 1960. They were living in Florida at this time. The candidates for the 1960 election were John F. Kennedy (Dem.) and Richard M. Nixon (Rep.).

Me

I registered to vote on my 18th birthday in Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama for the 1980 election. The candidates for the 1980 election were Ronald Regan (Rep.), Jimmy Carter (Dem.) and John B. Anderson (Independent). Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to vote in 1980 because I was in the hospital recovering from anaphylactic shock from penicillin. I would have to wait another 4 years to be able to vote in my first presidential election.


Sources: 

Infoplease (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781450.html : accessed 15 November 2016), "Presidential Elections, 1789-2012".

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org), "Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution," rev. 19:00 UTC, 15 October 2016.        
                    

Happy, Happy 103rd Birthday, Myrtle!

I almost missed it! Today marks the 103rd anniversary of the birth of my grandmother, Mary Myrtle Behrle Rueff. My grandparents were a lot fun and I remember the last summer I got to spend with Myrtle and George. 

My Mom was going home to Louisville for a high school reunion in 1976. My cousin Becky Elbert was there and I had saved up my babysitting money to go too. Becky and I had a grand time! Myrtle's rule was we could not go past the drive way of the neighbor to her right, the Seng family or the neighbor on the left, the Cox family. We were not allowed to walk around the block without her! As older kids (10 and up) and teenagers it drove us crazy!

One day Becky and I wanted to go for a ride with the boy next door, Skip Cox (I believe) to the shopping center that was not far from our grandparents home. We asked Myrtle, who told us no, so we asked George, well of course he said yes! Myrtle was so mad and I think she was more mad with our poor Grandpa than she was with us! She didn't let Becky and I out of her sight after that!

During my visit to Louisville, my aunt and uncle, Kenny and Barbara Rueff were also visiting. At that time they were living in Memphis, Tennessee. I wanted to go and visit with them too! It was all worked out and I was able to go to Memphis to visit with them and my cousins. It was also in Memphis, where I got to attend my very first rock concert on July 4th, 1976. I have always been a big fan of Elvis and Uncle Kenny made sure I got to see Graceland even though at that time it was not the tourist attraction it is now.

I didn't know then that it would be the last time I saw Myrtle. I wish I had told my Mom or my Aunt & Uncle that I had found liquor bottles in hidden places like the laundry area in the garage or the tank on the back of the toilet or in the pocket of her Lazy Boy chair. Maybe if I had she would have been with us a little longer but hindsight is 20/20 and I didn't know then what I know now about the effects of long term alcohol use. Nor did know that I would lose her just a little over a year later in September of 1977.

Myrtle, I love you so much! I hope you and George are having a grand old time celebrating your heavenly birthday today!

This is Myrtle and George Rueff, my grandparents. I just love this picture of them because it is how I remember them the most. From my personal collection.

Family Photo Friday - Mom's First Holy Communion Picture

This is my Mom's First Holy Communion picture. My Mom is on the left, her sister Bonnie is in the middle, standing behind her is my great grandfather, Dr. Raymond Alexander Behrle and on the right is her brother, Kenny. It is one of the few pictures that I have where my Mom and her siblings are all in the same picture as young kids. This picture was taken c.1944 in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

Tombstone Tuesday - George and Myrtle Rueff

This is marker for my maternal grandfather, George Kenneth Rueff (1905-1991) is buried beside my grandmother, Mary Myrtle Behrle Rueff (1913-1977) at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky.

When I went to pay my respects back in 2004, I notice that tombstone was lopsided (see the top picture) but it wasn't just lopsided it was sinking on one end. I got back in my car and drove back up to the office and asked if they would fix it. Of course they did as you can see in the bottom picture. When there is too much rain or melting snow their stone will start to sink on the left hand side. This is because my grandparents and the others around them are buried in a run off zone. When I came back a week later for Mother's Day, the stone had been leveled off again.

There is a story to this particular cemetery plot. When my grandmother passed away, my grandfather picked the plot and told his children (those that were with him at the time) that once he was dead and buried, he and Myrtle could lay there and watch the red birds "!$#&" all of over them. If you look at the bottom picture, you will see the tree to which my grandfather was referring to in upper left hand corner.

Tombstone Tuesday - Dr. Raymond A. and Pauline M. Behrle

This is double marker for my first maternal great grandparents, Dr. Raymond Alexander and Pauline M. [Orth] Behrle. They are buried in Louisville, Kentucky at Calvary Cemetery, one of five Catholic cemeteries in Louisville. It is a simple marker listing their names, year of birth and death and the words "Dad" and "Mother". They had one child, my grandmother, Mary Myrtle Behrle Rueff. Rest in peace Papa Ray and Lena.

Happy 104th Anniversary to my Great Grandparents - The Behrle's

Recently, I've been going through old photographs belonging to my parents. As I pulled a Sears bag out of my Momma's pie safe I thought I would find pictures of our family especially mine because when my boys, Kenny and David were growing up, Sears was the only place to go get good pictures without breaking the bank.

Imagine my surprise when I found a picture of my great grandparents on their wedding day nearly 104 years old in the Sears bag! On the back of the photograph I found the names of everyone in the picture, the place where my great grandparents were married and the date of the wedding.

Today marks the 104th Wedding Anniversary of my great grandparents, Dr. Raymond Alexander "Papa Ray" Behrle and Pauline "Lena" Orth. Raymond is the son of John and Mary Jane (Hermann) Behrle. Pauline is the daughter of Conrad and Katherine (Wilke) Orth.

Unfortunately, the photograph had a couple of tears and someone had rounded all of the corners as if to fit it into an oval or circular frame. I suspect that my grandmother, Myrtle is the culprit who cut the corners. After all it's her parents in the photograph. Below is the photo as I found it.

This is the photo as I found it in the Sears bag.

Raymond and Pauline were married on Wednesday, October 26th, 1910 at St. Francis of Rome Catholic Church in Louisville, Kentucky. They had four wedding attendants, Anna May Orth, sister of the bride, Myrtle Walker, Louis Schuler and Godfrey (?) Bitzer. There was a wedding announcement in the October 29th, 1910 issue of the Kentucky Irish American. Then in the November 5th, 1910 issue of the Kentucky Irish American there is an announcement of their return from their honeymoon. 

This is the wedding announcement from the Kentucky Irish American newspaper published on October 29, 1910.

This the their returned home from their honeymoon from the Kentucky Irish American newspaper published on November 5, 1910.

I really wanted to restore the picture for my Momma as a birthday gift but I knew it was not something I could do with my own photo editing software. I also didn't want to entrust it to just anyone. This is where my childhood friend, Ed Higgins saves the day for me. Our parents were the best of friends. We had reconnected on Facebook and noticed that he was posting amazing photos. I sent him a message asking if he could recommend someone. He said he really didn't but would I mind if he took a shot at it. I said of course and a few days later he sent me the restored picture via email. It was absolutely gorgeous! I couldn't wait to give it to my Momma. A few weeks later my Momma and Daddy along with my nephew Bryan cane for visit. I gave her the gift bag with the restored photo and she loved it! Below is the restored photo. Thank you so much Ed!!

Photo restoration by Ed Higgins Photography

So today, I wish my great grandparents, Papa Ray & Lena a Happy 104th Wedding Anniversary. I also want to wish Papa Ray, who was born on October 27, 1880,  a Happy 134th Birthday!

(c) 2014 Dawn Kogutkiewicz

Matrilineal Monday - Mary Myrtle Behrle Rueff

I would like to introduce my maternal grandmother, Mary Myrtle Behrle Rueff.

Myrtle was born on 2 May 1913 to Dr. Raymond A Behrle and Pauline "Lena" Orth Behrle in Louisville, Kentucky. Her paternal grandparents, John and Mary Jane Hermann Behrle were first generation German-Americans. Her maternal grandfather, Conrad Orth was also a first generation German-American and her maternal grandmother, Katherine "Kate" Wilkie Orth was born in Germany and arrived in America in the late 1870's. Myrtle married my grandfather, George Kenneth Rueff on 26 September 1936 in Louisville. My grandfather was also of German descent. This first set of pictures are of my grandmother on the left age 6 and on the right as a young woman about 1935-1936.

When I see my grandmother in this second set of pictures several words come to mind such as beautiful, sexy and free. She looks almost wanton in the picture on the left as she gives that kiss to my grandfather! In the picture on the right she looks stunning as she rides on a boat with her hair down and blowing in the wind. The grandmother I knew and the memories I have of her are different from the woman I see in these pictures. Oh how I wish I could have known this Myrtle!

The Myrtle I knew was loving, funny and over protective of her grandchildren. She took us to Wishes Drug Store on Whipps Mill Road for a treat or two, she would take us mushroom picking at a local farm and made coca-cola floats for us. When it came time to play outside we never allowed to go past the Seng's yard on one side and the Cox's yard on the other. In this last picture is the Myrtle I knew, the one who never wore anything but "pedal pushers" (aka crop pants) and tops and tennis shoes. The way I will always remember her.

In the summer of 1976, my Mom was going home to Louisville for a high school reunion and I went with her. My cousin Becky was there too and my Uncle Kenny & Aunt Barbara and their family too. I would go with aunt and uncle to Memphis, Tennessee to visit with them as well. Little did I know that this would be my last visit with my grandmother.

Late in the summer and early fall of 1977, Myrtle would be diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. She died on her 41st wedding anniversary. 

I love you, Myrtle!