Robl Family Players

Robl Family Players
Children at the Centennial Celebration acted out the story of Franz and Katherine’s immigration to the USA while Sarah L. read from “Kottie’s Wait,” the story she wrote for a University class about Katherine’s voyage. From left to right, Mary Claire was an adorable Barbara; Payton responsibly played responsible Mary; Alexandra (holding William, the doll) portrayed Kottie (Katherine); and John played Franz. Quick-change Kendra had two roles: her great-great grand father, Wenzel, and Hattie, a fictitious character. Ben ably stamped the passport as the immigration officer, and Kyra, just as ably, delivered the doll as the ship’s midwife. Finally reluctant Ryan was led on and off the stage as Joe. All the attendees enjoyed the play and appreciated the fine efforts of the cast.

Cemetery Flowers

Approximately 60 of the 100 + people who attended the Centennial Celebration on July 17 placed their name on a flower tag for the cemetery urn next to Katherine and Frank’s grave. The tags were color coated to signify grandchild, great-grandchild, great-great grandchild, and yes, even great, great, great grandchild. Some people made visits to the gravesite to place their flowers, and others left the flowers in a vase at the Celebration. Those flowers were placed in the urn on Sunday after the Centennial Mass. Grandma and Grandpa Robl would have been pleased at the attendance for the celebration honoring their immigration to the USA 100 years ago. About 1/3 of their descendents returned to Oshkosh for the event with people coming from California and New York. Eight of the nine family branches were represented with only John’s family missing. (We were never able to locate his only son, Johnny Jr., although valiant efforts were made.)

Family history search

I have been working on the Family History aspect of our Centennial Celebration. My husband Mark was kind enough to order me The Family Treemaker software and a subscription to Ancestry.com to make this labor of love a bit easier. I am happy to relate that I have come a long way to building Frank and Katherine Robl's family tree. I wish I could say that I went back to the 15th century or so to our great, great, ... ancestors but no I haven't been able to do that. (Yet!) However, except for Uncle John's son I was able to connect with family members of all the Sisters and Brothers and have been working on inserting all the information from their families. We will need to have another Celebration sooner than 100 years so we can keep in touch with family we are soon to meet and greet at the coming celebration. I look forward to seeing all of you soon and putting faces with the names I have transcribed.

Sally Ann Robl

Grandma’s Flowers

The peonies in my yard are about to burst open, and that made me think of Grandma Robl and her love of flowers. Some of my peonies came from her yard on 7th Street, although they have been mixed with peonies that were here when we moved to Rosendale, once the peony capitol of the World. I wonder if she ever ventured here to see the spectacular blooms on the annual Peony Sunday. I do know that she traveled along roadsides to dig wild flowers for her yard. Aunt Margaret, who started driving at age 12, must have been the driver. I remember wild columbine, cone flowers, black-eyed susans, and prairie sunflowers in her well-manicured garden. She had these mixed with a variety of domestic flowers, both annuals and perennials, and I have a few descendants of her perennials including some old-fashioned hostas and a gas plant that attracted humming birds in her yard and also does so in mine. I once had some of her tulips, but those have long ago turned white with age. So what was the source of her domestic flowers? One family story is that she befriended a needy young man and gave him an old overcoat. Later he worked at Paine Art Center, and each year after the spring planting he would bring her the leftover bulbs and annuals to repay her kindness. Then her gardens became a showy patchwork of brightly colored snapdragons, petunias, and marigolds. Under the lilac bushes, she developed a rock garden with shade loving plants and a border of attractive rocks, most likely obtained on those roadside excursions with Aunt Margaret driving. Hollyhocks bordered the driveway side of the house, a rose bush was on the other side, and she had a large sunny flower garden in back. A boardwalk led from the back door to the garage and on behind the garage where she had the sunflowers and tall garden phlox. Everywhere something was in bloom all summer long! Did she develop her love of flowers after she arrived in the US? Apparently not, as another family story is that she brought an amaryllis bulb with her from the old county. She kept that plant on the front porch in a pot, and after she died, Aunt Dolly took the plant and cared for it until she also died. Lee Ann then took over the plant care, and called it the “Grandma plant.” Lee Ann propagated the bulb and, with foresight, passed it on to others in the family. I was one of the lucky recipients of the “Grandma plant” that now blooms several times a year in my kitchen as seen in the photo attached to this post.

Centennial Activities

A committee of Robl cousins has been meeting to plan activities for the Centennial Celebration, and we welcome others to join us and assist with planning. We have tried to include activities for a variety of ages. Here are some of the activities we have planned so far:
Katherine’s Voyage: Several years ago, Sarah Stetter wrote a short story about Katherine Robl’s voyage to America. We plan to have children act out that story and to share it with all attendees. Grandma’s Trunk: I have an old trunk that I believe came to the USA with either Grandma or Grandpa Robl. I will bring that trunk along with some family artifacts to illustrate what their life was like. Likewise, Albert’s daughter, Cindy, will bring along some items she has. We invite anyone who has a family object to bring it along, and to share how it might have been used. We think “Grandma’s trunk” activity will be especially appealing to young children. Family stories, traditions, secrets, and trivia shared: Why did the Robl sisters have frogs in their nylon stockings? How did they get the hickory nuts out whole? Who made the rye bread for the Christmas ham gathering? Who was older, Aunt Rosie or Aunt Margaret? What does it mean to peck an Easter egg? Search your memory for a tidbit told by your parent or grandparent, and add to the stories we will share. Family crafts: Aunt Margaret was by far the craftiest in the family, and luckily, her granddaughters, Cindy and Karla, will bring along samples of her work to display. If you have something else to display, we’ll have a spot in the family crafts area. We might even get a lesson on how to make a yarn-covered coat hanger or tie a quilt. How many of us had to crawl underneath the quilt frame to push the needle back up? Family games: Sheepshead, Pollyanna, Yatzee, cribbage and Dart Ball were all popular past times for the Robl family. Any of us old enough to recall Grandpa Robl playing sheepshead with his cronies will remember no “table talk” and the slamming of cards down on the table. Sally Robl promises sheepshead instructions will be available, and Kenny Robl will show interested attendees how to play dart ball. The other indoor games will also be available. Outdoor games for children: We plan to have some active games for the younger kids or for anyone who needs to burn off a little energy after listening to all those stories. Photo sharing and identification: If you have stared at a photograph wondering who the people are, there may be some one at the Celebration who can help. Bring along other photos you would like to display too. Be sure to place your photos in plastic sheet protectors to prevent damage by handing. Displays of family documents & photos: I have Grandma’s passport and baptismal certificate. We hope to have these, other documents, and family history available on a DVD for all to see and perhaps take home a copy. Recipe exchange: We have not yet figured out how to do this, but it was one of the early suggestions on this blog. Your input on how to set up a recipe exchange will be appreciated, especially by those who still crave some of the Robl family foods. With that thought in mind, please post or send any other suggestions as well. We think these activities will help us to explore our shared heritage while getting to know each other and reconnecting. Kathy

Christmas Memories

As I unwrapped the ornaments for the Christmas tree, I was reminded of Robl Christmas traditions. Grandma always had a beautiful tree, full of shiny ornaments, and tinsel carefully layered on each branch, one stand at a time. I remember lying underneath the tree looking up into the branches with my cousin Lee Ann, discussing our hopes for Christmas toys. It seemed like Grandma’s trees had perfect conical shapes at a time when trees were not sheared as they are today. Ever wonder how that happened? I know the answer, and here’s a story of one (or two) Christmas trees. One year, the Aunts (Mary, Barbara, Rosie, Margaret, and Dolly) decided to buy Grandma’s tree as the uncles didn’t select one that was good enough. So they piled into a vehicle, Aunt Margaret driving of course, and went to Schettls, across from Sacred Heart Church. After inspecting every tree on the lot and turning each around several times, they selected one within their price range and size. They took it home to the uncles (Joe, John, and my Dad, Ray) to put in the stand. The uncles looked it over and decided it needed a few branches to fill the holes, so Uncle Joe was sent back to Schettls for some branches, quite a few branches in fact. While there, Uncle Joe noticed a scrub tree that was destined for the scrap heap, and he decided to take that, as it would be easier to carry than branches. So he took the scrub tree home, and the uncles looked it over and soon decided it was better than the tree the Aunts had purchased. They sawed off the limbs on the Aunts’ tree, and used the scrub tree as the base tree. Then they went to work, assembling the tree by drilling holes where branches were needed and using piano wire to hold up the inserted limbs. Of course it ended up with the perfect shape I remember…or does any tree at your Grandma’s house have a perfect shape? In those days, trees were only kept up for a short time, but even so, I also remember that needles soon fell. Kathy

The Gardening Robls

I wasn’t surprised when our newly found German relatives mentioned they were busy with gardening. Gardening has been a Robl family activity for as long as I can remember. Grandma and Grandpa had a large vegetable garden on the property where Rickels built a house. I remember how upset they were to lose that garden plot. Later they moved their garden to the field where the ball diamond now is located. Seventh Street was a dead-end street in those days, and they walked the short distance to tend the garden. It must have been public property where people were allowed to plant. My Dad (Uncle Ray) had a plot there too, and he used to carry me on his shoulders to the garden. With building of the ball diamond and opening of 7^th street, the family lost another garden plot. After that, almost the entire back yard on 7^th street became a flower and vegetable garden. They had a chicken coop, an out house, and a garage in the back yard. A wooden sidewalk led from the back door to these buildings. Grandma and Grandpa passed the gardening tradition on to each of their children. Aunt Mary had a big garden, first at her house on Knapp Street and later on 9^th street. I remember picking strawberries with her, and her eagle eyes spotted the berries I missed. Her long arm would reach across the row as she pointed out what I had failed to pick. In the seventies, after we purchased our house near Rosendale, Aunt Dolly, Aunt Margaret, Uncle Mel, and my Mother (Aunt Bar) planted a huge garden on our property. The neighbors were impressed by the neat and weedless rows, something they accomplished, not us. It was a pleasure to have them come out on summer evenings to tend the garden, then stop in for a really, really cold beer and a game of Pollyanna or Yahtzee. We learned a lot from them: how to get rid of every weed, how to make sauerkraut and wine, and most important to share the bounty from the garden with relatives and friends. The attached photo says, “Mother and Dad caught unexpected, June 3^rd, 44." I think the handwriting is Aunt Dolly’s. Kathy