Mayme Rachuig Hause's Memories of the 1940s

My aunt, Mayme Rachuig Hause, sent me the following note.  (Her father, Herbert Rachuig, was Selma Schulz Rachuig's youngest son.)

Pan for Cornbread Sticks

The picture is of my Mother’s iron corn bread stick pan. Today, it hangs above my stove in Nixon, Texas. My thoughts go back to my years at home with my parents and sister Sally as we grew up in Sugar Land, Texas.

When Sally and I were younger and in school, Mother cooked the family pinto beans and corn bread sticks made in that pan. When Mother went to work in the Post Office in Sugar Land, she would often leave a big pot of beans and corn bread sticks for the evening meal. However, when Sally and I came home from school, just like most of the children now, we were starved. The pot of beans on the stove was so inviting that we would always have a bowl and a corn bread stick. Some times if we were hungrier than usual, the pot would be almost empty when we were through with our snack. That was not always a good idea as Mother would be a little upset to say the least. But most of the time she cooked an ample amount for a snack and our meal. Even our German father loved this delicious Southern meal too!!!

On the lighter side about my Daddy’s special treats!

Daddy loved Limberger cheese, and if you are not familiar with this cheese, it has a particularly strong smell. Mother was not always pleased to have it in the fridge for more than a day or two. It came in small wedges wrapped in foil about 2 or 3 bites. Can’t imagine anyone going in and buying a pound of it. WHEW!!!! You don’t see this cheese too much any more, but perhaps in specialty cheese shops now. The Germans were especially fond of it. Maybe when the older generation of my father passed away, there was not much of a demand for it!!!

  

Ernst Walter Viertel & Caroline Henrietta Rachuig

These two photos show Ernst Walter Viertel and Caroline Henrietta Rachuig.  The first photo captures them on their wedding day, October 20, 1931.  The next one shows them a few months later at Christmas.

Ernst's parents were Anna Kamilla Schulz & Hugo Torvell Viertel.  Their family tree (page 4) appears in the upper-right column of this blog.  Caroline's parents were Rudolph 'Rube' Rachuig & Huldina Ickert.  For those of you keeping score, this is another instance of intermarriage between the Rachuig & Schulz families.

I want to thank Dorothy Krueger Mansur for bringing these photos to the recent reunion, so we could scan them.
 

Hans Mansur, 1926-2012

Hans Mansur on the left with his wife Dorthy on her parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  Dorothy's parents Will & Hilda Rachuig Krueger in the center.  Her sister-in-law Mary Hoff and her brother Will Krueger, Jr. on the right.

 

I'm sorry to report that Hans Masur passed away last week.  He was Dorothy Krueger Mansur's husband.  Dorothy is the granddaughter of Julius & Selma Schulz Rachuig and Julius & Emile Krueger.

Hans always enjoyed (and helped organize) the Rachuig-Schulz reunions.  He wasn't a blood relation, but he was very close to my branch of our family.  He's enjoying a heavenly family reunion now.

Here's is a link to a brief obituary.
 

1940 US Census Records

Some of you may know the 1940 US Census records are now available online.  I've done a cursory review of the records for Bosque County and found several families in our group.  

The most important thing to remember is that the records are not yet indexed by name.  You must search by enumeration district.  To identify these districts you must look at the annotated county maps. You see the census map for most of Bosque County below.  

The enumation districts have numbers that begin with '18.'  The district for the town of Clifton is 18-18.  The map isn't all that detailed, so you may need to do some trial-and-error searching to find your target family.  For example, look at Norse.  It's a small town but it sits on the boundary of two districts: 18-19 & 18-20.  You may have to search both sets of records to find who you're looking for.  You'll see a link to the map on the Census Web site just under the image.  There are 6 map images for Bosque County, and Google doesn't allow much magnification, so you  may want to go to the Census site to get a really good look.  (You can see a highly-magnified view there.)

Link to map on Census Web site.

For example, here is the page showing the Hugo Schulz family in enumeration district no. 18-19.  They appear starting at line no. 31.  (I've provided a link below to the page on the Census Web site, so you can see a highly-magnified view.)

Link to page on Census Web site.

This next page shows Jack Belcher's family on line no. 7.  They also appear in district 18-19.  Jack's wife, Evalyn Rachuig, was the daughter of Julius & Selma Schulz Rachuig. (Click the link under the image to get a magnified view.)

Link to page on Census Web site.
 

The Walter Rachuig Trophy

Some of you may not know that Walter Alfred Rachuig, Sr. (son of Selma Schulz & Julius Rachuig) was instrumental in introducing 10-pin bowling to Australia.  He helped organize leagues in the early 1960s.  The bowling association appreciated his work & named their championship trophy after him.  


Here's an article explaining this story.

Selma Schulz & Julius Rachuig Family

I've drawn a family tree diagram for the Selma Schulz & Julius Rachuig family.

Link to family tree diagram.

Selma Schulz Rachuig, 1934

I have good reason to think this photo was taken sometime in 1934, probably just before Selma was to travel to a tuberculosis sanitarium in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. This photo was probably taken as her family gathered to say good-bye. Notice how sickly she looks. She died in January, 1935 of tuberculosis.

The location is her home on Hackberry Street in Clifton. The two little girls are my mother, Sally Rachuig Kelly (left) & Mayme Rachuig Hause (right). The standing adults from left-to-right are Evelyn Rachuig Belcher, Herbert Rachuig (my grandfather), Mamie Adams Rachuig (my grandmother), Julius Herman Rachuig (my great-grandfather), Hildegard Rachuig Krueger, Tobias Schulz, Alvina Beyerstedt Rachuig, Walter Rachuig (Sr.), Wilhelmina Schulz (in front of Walter) and Edgar Rachuig. Selma is the seated woman.

4-Generation Photo of Schulz Women

This photo shows Wilhelmina Schulz, her daughter Selma Schulz Rachuig, her granddaughter Hilda Rachuig Krueger and great-granddaughter Dorothy Krueger Mansur. I'm not certain of the exact date, but it must be around 1923. The location may be the Schulz home north of Clifton. I don't have any good guesses on the identity of the boy in the background.