Stories

Besides other noble young men, he had a boy from Ramsperg, who was bold and fresh. Once during the summer it happened that Sir Johanns Wernher after the morning meal decided to get some rest and to lay down on the bed to go to sleep. He ordered the boy to ward off the mosquitoes. Whereupon the Ramsperger got quite mad, perhaps he would have preferred to be with his friends; therefore he became so impatient that he started to talk to himself gently and said: I have to ward off the mosquitoes? I have something else to do; I have a notion to do bodily harm to you dummy! I am tempted to shove the hunting knife into your body. After he said that several times, not aware that Sir Johanns Wernher could possibly hear that, Sir Johanns Wernher, who actually heard that, sat up in bed and pretended to go after the boy, who got so frightened that he fled in terror. For the rest of his life he did not return to MöBkirch, and went to war from where he did not return. ("Ein aufmüpfiger Knappe eines Grafen von Zimmern" Zimmernschen Chronik 1564/66).

Grandpa John's family produced beer in "the old country". They were very proud of what they made. When grandpa Josef remarried, his second wife felt she was a class above the Ramsperger family. She insisted on wine with her meals. This angred grandpa John because "beer was good enough for my mother why not her". There was an argument and he left never to return again. Somehow the beer recipe came with him (it has since been lost). Uncle Dave told me that my grandmother did make it once in the basement of a house her and grandpa Tom rented (around 1920). There was a woman in town who translated the recipe for her. He said it tasted pretty good.

America

I asked Aunt Mag, why she didn't have a drivers license. She told me that all the kids would practice driving in Uncle Irie's field. One day it was her turn to drive. All the kids piled in and she took off... right through the fence. She felt people were alot safter if she never had a drivers license.

One Christmas time (before the artifical tree was bought) dad, Uncle Vince, Marg and I went looking for the prefect tree. My dad always had to have a cedar one, so he was easy, Uncle Vince was not. One year we hunted and hunted, and hunted, Uncle Vince wouldn't fine the tree he liked. Finally, we came up on three trees in a row and of course he wanted the middle one. Dad and him chopped it down and we took it home. It turns out this tree was in the middle of a neighbors front lawn.

I always liked going to Aunt Jennie's and Uncle Pulver's, it was a farm and there was always new animals to see. Aunt Jennie had the prettiest saddles and horses around (of course I liked the cows, my sister liked horses). My mother mentioned one time that she never rode a horse (she was raised on farms too) and Aunt Jennie asked if she wanted to learn. Of course the answer was "no" but Aunt Jennie said "Peg" was the gentlest pony she had. Her grandchildren were allowed only to ride her. The answer was still "no!".

One time when we were visiting there were bady kittens and piglets. We (my sister and I) were asked to choose what we wanted. Of course we chose the kittens, our parents wanted the piglets. No pork for us.

At the end of the summer we would go to the corn field which belonged to Aunt Jennie and Uncle Pulver. There we would pick the sweet corn and load up the back of the car. My father owned a 1941 Ford (truttle back, the truck was so deep and that's where we put all the corn. My grandfather would get angry at my sister and me because we would hide in between the rows of corn. What do you want from seven and eight year olds. Years later I went back and picked corn with my own children. Of couse my truck wasn't as big as that old Ford's and my children hide in between the rows of corn.

(stories by Uncle Vince)
My father always maintained a family garden every summer, which fed the family during the winter months. He enjoyed palying cards, rabbit hunting, listening to the radio, and later watching television. I always remembered Saturday evenings as he would take us for an ice cream cone. During World War II, he and mother would spot airplanes once a week and during black-out drills. Dad would be an air raid warden for our end of town.

My brother's played baseball, Kenny was the pitcher and Tommie was the catcher. They would practice in the back yard throwing to each other. However, what ever Tommie asked for Kenny would throw the opposite (slow ball he would throw fast, etc). This was always good for them getting into arguments.

Register-Herald June 14, 1917
TEACHER'S HIRED-The following teacher's have been hired for the coming school year, 1917-18: Stanfordville, Mary Losee, Mrs. Claude Birch; Old Attlebury, Elise Lang; Stissing, Mabel Tripp; Hunn's Lake, Clara Robinson; Mt. Ross, Bessie Kelley; Vosburgh Dist., Angie Keefer; Boston Corners, Chester McDonald; Ancram Lead Mines, Marguerite Traganza; Bethel, Blanche Strever; Rhinebeck, Isabella Lang; Patchin Dist., Mrs. Paul Patchin; Rock City, Paul Burch; Jackson Corners, Etta Jones.

Register-Herald October 4, 1917

Register-Herald June 6, 1918
Frederica Traganza has accepted a position as clerk in Chase's Store.

* see obituaries-Thomas 'Tommie' Remsburger Jr
Dad never wanted anybody to know his real age. He wrote his own obituary so his date of birth wouldn't show up. He never told his right age when asked. I would correct him with the right year. Then he would show we all his copies and say "Pick a year". For some reason (I think maybe for the Army enlistment) he had to have a copy of his birth year, he received three different year dates (1922, 1923, and 1927). Mrs Saddler (the town clerk) had copied the year wrong three times. Of course Dad liked going by the last date. However, Dad was born on May 10, 1921 in Pine Plains.

John Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Isaac Allen, Raymond A., Edith May, David Martin, and Jennie Catharine
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