Two Noras: December 17, 1914 and December 17, 2021

Nora Bauer: Thursday, December 17, 1914

Colder yet today, was about 10 below zero. Went to singing class tonight. 

Nora Spitznogle: Friday, December 17, 2021

Great day! Batesville with Kassie.  Visited the cemetery where Bauer relatives are buried. 

While Grandma Nora's day sounds routine, mine was exciting! 

Kassie and I drove to the St. Peter Cemetery in Franklin County, Indiana. Grandma Nora's grandparents are buried there and I thought that I would easily be able to find their grave markers next to the church. 

Hope springs eternal in my brain,  but often the reality is a little disappointing. My goal was to find Franz Alois Bauer's grave. Franz is my great-great-great grandfather and was Nora's great-grandfather. He and his wife Josephine and children (including Nora's grandfather, Felix) came to the US from Bavaria (Germany) in 1853 and landed in southern Indiana. 

We were able to find the cemetery and the church, but not the gravestone. Of course, he died in 162 years ago and we don't know that he ever had a stone. I was able to find several Rosfeld's -  Nora's mother (my great-grandmother) was a Rosfeld. 

I also found Messerschmit's - Nora's great-grandmother was Susanna Messerschmidt. 

I'm guessing that six year-old Anna is a great-great aunt, but I haven't sorted that out out. 

Little three year-old Frank Messerschmit is my great-great uncle. 

I look forward to being better prepared for the next visit. We discovered on our way out that there was a another whole cemetery across the road - the "new" graveyard had stones from the 1880s, including Frank's (above). 

We were able to go in to the sweet church and met a church member who was there to get ready for a funeral. I learned that there are still Rosfeld's attending that church. 

Kassie discovered that this man's -  also visiting the across-the-street cemetery - daughter's Golden Retriever was the mother of Kassie's daughter's puppy. 

Other adventures included a man in a truck practically running us off the road (in a remote wooded area by a steep ravine and creek - the stuff nightmares are made of) to get us to stop. It turned out to be innocent, as it turned out he thought that I worked for "the county" - my utilitarian grey* car and 4-H license plate lead him down that path. He wanted to discuss a new pig farming operation down the road. 

We stopped in Batesville to see Sally 

On our way out of Batesville, Kassie took me to this amazing place! Typically I'm very respectful of people's property and don't stray off the sidewalk, but yowza! Blow molds galore! 

So fun! 

We headed back to Indianapolis to attend Silo's holiday open house. The invitation suggested ugly sweaters, so Kassie and I stopped at my favorite thrift store and picked up some sweaters. Of course we were the only two that wore ugly sweaters to the party. 

We stopped for dinner on the way home - I like to squeeze as much out of a day off as I can! 

* even my car is "Bauer grey."