Hess Family Genealogy

A compilation of our genealogy and life stories

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Frank Hess Sr. Immigration Records and a new photo

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On New Year’s Day, I was out searching the internet for genealogy information and came across a link to obtain  the immigration file for a German immigrant ancestor who had registered starting in 1940.  With this new resource, I hoped to find more information on my grandfather Frank Hess Sr.  So I sent off my $20 and the information I had on him and 5 days later I received a letter from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  They had identified his file, but they no longer had it.  It was at the National Archives in Kansas City.  They then proceeded to tell me how to obtain a copy of the file.  I sent off another email and after another $20 fee and a wait of another week, I received the six pages of the file including this picture taken in 1942 of Frank Hess.

Hess Frank Sr 1942 INS Photo

I have posted the rest of the file in the Family Tree in an Album attached to Frank Hess Sr.

A couple of things I learned from this new record is that he immigrated in 1910 as a crew member on the S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II.  He entered the US at Hoboken, NJ.  He could not recall the exact date he entered the country except that it was in 1910.

I knew he served in the German Army before he arrived, because we have a picture of him in his uniform, but I did not know it was from 1904 to 1906.  That is another clue that we might be able to use to find more information about him.

Here is a postcard and a picture of the S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II.

SS_Kaiser_Wilhelm_II

 

300px-Kaiser_wilhelm_2

A conversation with my Mom

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The other day I was visiting with my mother and she had just gotten off a phone call from her friend Frieda Mueller.  As we were talking she said she loved it when Frieda would tell stories from when she was young in prewar Germany.  We then discussed how important it is to capture those stories.  Mom said I hope she has them written down, and I responded yeah, but they are probably in German.  Mom then started telling me her own story that she was reminded of by talking with Frieda.

“When I was a little girl, probably around eight, I was in the garden weeding with my grandmother (Elizabeth Maria Moehring whose parents both came from Germany, and German was spoken in their home).  As we  were weeding, a garter snake came my me and I screamed.  My grandmother reassured me ” Don’t worry about him, he is more afraid of you than you are of him.”  I remember this like it was just yesterday.”

I don’t think I had ever heard that story before, and if I didn’t share it here, it would probably be lost forever.

Do you have similar stories that are a part of you that would be good to share that haven’t been written down somewhere?  What are you going to do about it?

LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance

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LaMar R Pincock from his Book of Remembrance (1938)

The enclosed pictures are part of the scanned pages from the Book of Remembrance of LaMar R Pincock that was started when he was 8 years of age.  As indicated on the first page he was helped by his Grandmother Rance in writing this record.  It includes Personal Histories of his mother, Irene Rohner Pincock, his father William Aaron Pincock, and his grandmother Icevinda Pace Rohner Rance in her own words.  There are other pages that include pictures of his family, pedigree charts and Family Group sheets.  These remaining pages are included in the full record that is included in the Family Tree portion of this site that is password protected.

If you click on a picture below and then on the picture again on the new tab, the picture will be enlarged.

 

LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance page 02
LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance page 03
LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance page 04
LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance page 05
LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance page 06
LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance page 07
LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance page 08
LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance page 09
LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance page 10
LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance page 11
LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance page 14
LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance page 15
LaMar R Pincock Book of Remembrance page 16

First time Help for using “John Hess Family Tree”

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If you have not already done so, go to the Family Tree tab and follow the link to the “John_Hess_Family_Tree”.  There you can request a sign-on if you do not have one.  It may take me a day to respond with the account information.

After you get your user account and password, sign on to the site and search for yourself using your given names.  You may need to click on a link of your name to get to your information. A page showing all of the information I have on you and your immediate family will appear. From this screen you can click on Ancestors or Descendents to see who else in your immediate path I have information on.  You can also click on any highlighted name to follow that link (for example your father or mother).

If you have information you would like to share with me, you can either just send it to me via email, or there are ways to submit text to my site.  There are two tabs available on an individuals page: one is to “Suggest” a correction or addition.  The second is an “Edit Family Worksheet” that allows more information to be submitted for a family (for example add a second spouse or additional children or additional dates or places)
Other things of interest might be to look at the Photos, documents, obituaries, cemeteries or Census information I have.  Adding more of these is where I am now spending my time.

There are many ways to get to the information.  On most pages there are links to other pages of information.  Links are usually underlined.

 

Thanks for your interest in my Family History records.

8 February 1972

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As the 8th of February past, I started to remember what happened on that day forty years ago.  It had been cold enough for the ice to freeze at the local Ice Skating “Rink”.  It was really an old ice pond where they had harvested ice for preserving food in ice boxes through the summer.  But in my day we had refrigerators and didn’t need the ice anymore. Anyway, we usually only had a couple of weeks to skate and I wanted to take full advantage of the time I had.

I went to skate right after school and my dad came to pick me up for dinner.  I didn’t want to quit so I ignored him and he finally went home.  I had a scout patrol meeting that evening so my dad came back to get me.  I saw he was there and was getting ready to leave when I got into a play in the hockey game where we were all fighting over the puck.  The next thing I know, I am falling down and hear a loud crack.  I didn’t know if it was the ice or my leg. The other players helped me off the ice on one leg and they took me into the warm-up shack.  I was soon helped to my dad’s car and taken home.

Later that night I was taken to Nyack Hospital and x-rayed. I had broken both my right tibia and right fibula.  I spent the night at the hospital, and the next ten weeks in various casts.  The first was most of the way up my thigh. Eventually they were walking casts with a removable boot.  It was months before I could walk without a limp.

Looking back on that experience, how much pain and suffering could I have avoided if I had just gone home with my father when he came the first time? I knew I should have gone with him, but who would have seen the consequences?

The sad thing is this isn’t the only instance where I can look back and see the consequences of not doing what I should or not being where I should be.  What would have happened on 13 November 2003 if I had left for Church on time?  Instead, I was just leaving when I should have been there.  Again another accident, this time with a totaled car and multiple broken bones.

John Hess’ Elementary School Pictures

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My mom has been saving these pictures for all these years.  I thought they would be good to share.  For most of you who have always had individual pictures, they used to only take class pictures.  The first 4 years I was in Sparkill Elementary School.  For Fourth grade they changed the school boundaries and I went to Tappan Elementary School so most of my classmates changed.  In each school we had 2 or three classes per grade so every year we had new kids in our class.

In the First grade picture, my cousin Debbie Post is in the center of the back row.  If I dug out my high school yearbook, I might be able to name most of my classmates.  I remember some of them but not all.

 

John Hess Kindergarten Class Sparkill Elementary School
John Hess 1st Grade Class Sparkill Elementary School
John Hess 2nd Grade Class Sparkill Elementary School
John Hess 3rd Grade Class Sparkill Elementary School
John Hess 4th Grade Class Tappan Elementary School
John Hess 5th Grade Class Tappan Elementary School

I don’t remember most of my teacher’s names, but the folder indicated my First Grade teacher was Mrs Bolander, and I remember my Fourth Grade teacher was Mrs Hartmuller and my Fifth Grade teacher was Mrs McConnell.

Mrs Hartmuller retired after my year with her.  She was the one elementary school teacher that had a big impact on my life.  We had to read 15 books as a minimum and do a report on each of them that year, and I really had a hard time finding a book to read.  She planted a book in the closet in her room and made me believe it was a special book that she thought I would like.  I read it and it kicked off a love for reading where I couldn’t get enough to read.  It was a part of a series and that helped me find additional books to read.  I still have a box of books from that series that I bought and read during 4th, 5th and 6th grades.

 

 

 

Marriage of Frank Hess and Jeanne Elizabeth Post

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My mom asked me to keep this booklet from their marriage ceremony and she gave me a note card with a drawing of the church where they were married.  I thought it was best to share it with everyone.

Document is found here:

F Hess and J Post Marriage

Christ Church, Sparkill, NY Where Jeanne Elizabeth Post and Frank Hess Jr. were married.

My Claim to Fame at BYU

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The attached picture is my only claim to fame at BYU.  It was actually about 1/4 of a newspaper page in size.

The story behind it:

I was in an intermediate Racquetball class and my teacher had directed the class to play with our wrong hand to develop cross-body coordination.  My opponent and I were struggling with this when a knock came at the door.  It was a reporter with the Daily Universe (BYU Newspaper) and he said “You guys really look like you know what you are doing, do you mind if I take a few pictures for an article we are doing on fitness for the paper.”  We agreed as long as we could use our regular hands.  He took pictures of both of us serving and mine made the paper.

Aunt Jayne saved a copy and sent it to our Mom & Dad.