"Take Our Country Back"??--From WHOM??

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around a lot of what's going on in the political world, at least in America, today. There's a large hue and cry to "take our country back!" that makes me ask...from whom? When did they apparently "steal" it? If we're looking at election results, the "whom" MUST be...the majority of voters. After all, it is the MAJORITY of the voters who have elected our President, our Senators and Representatives. Since one of the basic premises of our constitutional form of government is that the person who wins a plurality of the votes is entitled to hold the office, how is it that our country was "taken" from anyone? If anything, the score is that we voted, somebody won, and somebody lost...simple as that. Nothing was TAKEN from anyone. Just because your candidate or party didn't win, it doesn't mean that anything was TAKEN from you. It wasn't a palace coup, it was an election...and the majority of those who chose to exercise their right to vote simply didn't find your candidate more appealing than the candidate who won. So be adult enough to admit that, and let's drop the pretense that anything was TAKEN from anyone.

Then there's the people who are following candidates such as Republican Rick Santorum, who apparently want to put Christian values into our laws. I suppose that Mr. Santorum and his followers believe that laws abridging the rights of non-Christians to follow THEIR religious beliefs would somehow pass coustitutional muster...yet I fail to see how. In fact, there are state legislatures these days that are considering laws that would ban Muslim "sharia law" form being effective in America...and yet these same folks would want us to live under THEIR religious laws. I believe that the Constitution's first amendment provisions forbidding any laws that would abridge an individual's right to exercise their religious beliefs should be sufficient to cover then needs of our nation.

Conservatives rail that the right to pray has been taken away from our school children. Actually, the "right" of a teacher to FORCE any child to pray in school has been taken away; that's all that has been "lost," and I believe that to be a GOOD loss. Look at it this way: Why is it "right" for a teacher to force a child to pray to a Christian God, but yet it's not "right" for a teacher to force a child to face Mecca and pray to Allah? Because "we" are right and "they" are wrong? If that's how you look at the issue, then you apparently don't truly believe in religious freedon in America. No I don't condone stoning women, nor do I condone cutting off hands or other appendages from people; in fact, I think the Bill of Rights' protection against "cruel and unusual punishment" covers that area already.

Don't get me wrong. I have Christian-based religious beliefs, and I, too, think the Muslims are "wrong." But since I have the right to exercise MY beliefs and possibly be "wrong," why shouldn't others in our great land have the same right to be "wrong?"
I believe that's how our Founding Fathers meant for our nation to operate. And I don't believe that the idea of "taking back our country" [with the subtext of imposing "our" religious ideas on others who--for now,anyway--still have the right to believe as they choose, even if it IS something different from our own beliefs] is something that will bring America back to its ideaological roots.

1906 Knight Family Letter

HERE IS THE TEXT OF THE 1906 LETTER, written by James Knight Kreutzinger to his son, Edmund Philip Kreutzinger:

"Mt. Vernon, Ind. 2-11-1906

Dear Edmund--

I was naturally somewhat surprised to note your request for all possible information concerning my mother's family; these things gradually pass out of our recollection and unless some pride is taken in cultivating the family tree it rapidly falls into decay. All that I know authentically is that Grandfather Knight was born in the year 1791 in the County of Hampshire England. His father was James Knight, a well-to-do and rather intelligent farmer, who had two sons: James my grandfather, and Richard, four years younger. Grandfather became a floriculturist in South London and in 1836 and 1837 was awarded silver medals by the South London Floricultural Society; we have one bearing the date of 1837. Uncle David's family has the other. I do not know the maiden name of grandfather's first wife, who was the mother of 7 children:

Eliza (Dewey)

James (supposed to have been blown from a steamboat)

John (supposed to have died of yellow fever in the south)

Richard and Thomas (who remained in England and whose descendants still remain there, except Jessie Grace who came to America about 10 years ago)

Edmund and

Joseph.

After her death he married Esther, second daughter of Thomas Mayne and Esther Bryan. the latter died during the early childhood of my grandmother, as did the youngest daughter, Anna; and grandmother and her eldest sister, mary, were placed in the family of a relative, mrs. Andrews, where they remained until the latter emigrated to Australia, when grandmother entered the employ of Mrs. Colton as a companion where she was living when she met James Knight. Her faher, Thomas Mayne, was a watchmaker and made each of his daughters a watch, one of which is now in our family in a dilapidated condition. My grandmother claimed relationship with the historian Gibbon, just what degree I am unable to say, but the mother of Esther Bryan was a Gibbon.

Of the sons and daughters of James Knight by his two marriages Eliza, the eldest, married Thomas Dewey, came to America, and became the mother of one son, John, who died upon reaching his majority; his mother died about 1842. James became a civil engineer, came to the U.S. and married becoming the father of 3 children two of whom, with their mother died in the early '50's; the youngest child was brought up by the family of his mother's parents. Uncle James was never heard from after the blowing up of a steamer on her way up the Ohio. John disappeared in an equally mysterious manner; Thomas and Richard who remained in London were goldsmiths, I think as was also their Uncle Richard. The Knights were Regular Baptists and during their residence in London attended the Church of John Stevens, a picture of whom is now in my possession. Those of the family who remained in England were member of Charles Spurgeon's Tabernacle. Edmund, Joseph, Ebenezer, David, Esther and Mary came to America with their parents and all married and reared families except Mary, who died at the age of 16. Samuel, the youngest child, died just before the family left England.

The children of James Knight and Esther Mayne were Ebenezer, David, Esther, Mary and Samuel. The only surviving member of the two branches of the family is Ebenezer, who lives in Harrison County, Indiana at the village of Elizabeth, just below New Albany. We have had no communication with our London relatives since Jessie Grace came to America some 10 years ago. Grandmother Knight was born Aug. 25, 1799, and died in Kansas in 1879. Grandfather Knight died in Posey County Indiana
in 1859. Mary, the older sister of grandmother Knight, died in the latter part of 1858; she never married. This is about all I know for a certainty of our ancestry on the Knight side.

Of course you heard of the death of Rillie Ries by drowning in the YMCA pool at Evansville?

This is all I can think of just now so goodbye. We all send our love.

Yours truly,

/s/ James K. Kreutzinger"

I did some research, and discovered that the South London Royal Floricultural Society was formed in 1835.

Old Knight Family Letters..Part 1

For some time now, I've been intending on publishing for internet availability some letters and other documents related to my family history. Here are three letters that were written in pencil on lavender-colored paper, so they were difficult to transcribe. They were sent from Esther Knight to her son/my great-great-grandfather, Ebenezer Knight, shortly before her death in 1879. Spelling and capitalization remain true to the original letters.

"Myers Valley
Potawatomie Co. Kansas

April 28. 1875

My dear son

I have been waiting for a letter from you but it seems in vain. You will not write and I am so trembling that I scarcely know how to. When i think that my only two sons should now on my account feel so bad one to the other, I must leave this painful subject. I want you to write me and let me know how your wife and children are. And let me know how Matilda Rogers and her family are. If you see them give my love to them. Also how Mrs. Combs and Mrs. Glasco are. I have never ask you my son for any think before but I should be very glad if you spare me a trifle now and then to buy me some tea. For ever since the grasshoppers destruction they have never used coffe nor tea and David's wife sold her cow because they had no feed so they have been deprived of milk and butter. So that it has gone hard with them, and as it happens often one trouble don't come alone. About a month ago their other [illegible] colt died. I must close for I am to nervous I can write no more at present.

From your
affectionate
mother
E. Knight

Answer this as soon as possible and don't keep me in suspence. May the blessings of God rest upon you it is my fervent prayer."

Letter 2:

"It is nearly 9 months since your brother David sent you a letter, but we have heard no answer. I have been very sick and am still very weak. My memry is very bad, but I have not forgot i have a son Ebenezer who had a wife + family. I hope when you receive this letter you will read it directly. If you do not I shall think you have disowned your mother and brother altogether, but remember you are as dear to me as when the Lord first gave you to me. Remember we ought to forgive if we expect to be forgiven. Now your brother feels no [illegible] toward you than he did this winter. He was in great trouble at the time and you did not answer the letters he wrote, but I will say no more about it. Your brother is in hope you will write so soon and let me know how you all are getting along. I had such a bad cough in January that i thought I was going home, but The Lord as been pleased to spare me but I am very weak and feeble. But I feel strong in the Lord and the Power of His Might. My son I hope if we never see one another again on Earth we shall meet in Heaven where parting will be known no more. Give my love to your wife and children when ever you can't find time to write."


Letter 3: [apparently written to one of Ebenezer's children]

"I received your letter with the pictures and was much pleased that I was not quite forgotten by my oldest son. Finally I was glad to hear you enjoyed yourself on Christmas day. I am not able to comply with your wish to send my picture. Your aunt Esther Kreutzinger as got me and your grandfather Knight, in one and if at any time you should visit you can see it. Whenever your sister Ellen can spare the money I would like to have her and her brother David James picture together. Give my love to Thos. and his wife and tell them i wish them all the happiness the world can offer them and that is but little at the best. Tell them thou I never espect to see them on Earth I hope to meet in heaven where parting will be knone no more."

Note, written in ink, apparently by David Knight:

"This is all I can find of Mother's last writing. I would have written for her but for the reasons given on this sheet, she would not allow it.

D.K."

Samson Sidney Turley

From a 1951 book published by Pfrimmer's Chapel Evangelical United Brethren Church, Corydon, Indiana:

SAMSON SIDNEY TURLEY

October 15,1874 - December 15, 1950

S.S. Turley was the son of William Harvey and Elizabeth Rosenbarger Turley and was raised in this community. He was converted at our church when he was a boy.

He was received into Indiana Conference at the 81st session held at Dale, Indiana August 25, 1909. His first charge was at Crandall, Indiana. He was ordained in 1911. He served the church at Hartsville during 1912 when there was eighty-seven converts. In 1914 he organized a United Brethren Church at Sardinia and in 1915 he organized one at Grammer.

In 1918 he went to Beatrice, Nebraska and was transferred from Idiana Conference in 1919. While serving at Beatrice, Nebraska he was wed to Miss Rose Meredith.

He began evangelistic work as a Evangelist At Large September 24, 1920. Mrs. Turley assisted with special music. They held services in every state in the United States, In Washington, D. C. and in twelve foreign countries. They educated two native Japanese boys for the ministry and attended the weddings of each of these boys in their native country.

His remains were placed to rest in the Grover Memorial Mausoleum in South Park Cemetery at Greensburg, Indiana.

My Early Education Helped Shape Me

On a discussion forum I frequent, one of the regulars posted a photo of an old abandoned 1-room schoolhouse he used to attend, and made the following comments:

" K through 4.

"No Internet
No phones
No gym
No sports
No indoor plumbing

"No wonder I'm such a bitter, gun-toting domestic terrorist."


The school where I spent first grade in 1961 was a lot like that...although they did have indoor plumbing. Now an historic landmark known as the Leora Brown School, it had been the "colored school" in town before the school system integrated. When we "baby boomers" overwhelmed the capacity of our 1914-built grade school, a couple of "overflow" classrooms were set up a couple of blocks away when they put up a partition wall in the formerly-one-room "colored school."

Mrs, Bickel--who had been my dad's first-grade teacher in 1936, back when she was Miss Miller--was my teacher. The other classroom went to Mrs. Merk, the wife of the principal at the junior high. [Mr.Merk had been my dad's senior English and Latin teacher in high school...and Dad hated him.]

The only phone in the building was one that hung on the wall in the back hallway, and its purpose was for use in case there was an emergency, so the principal at the main grade school could be notified. There was no gym, and the only sports were whatever we could work into a short recess on the part-gravel, part grass-and-mud playground. I use the term "playground" quite loosely, since the only play equipment there--besides our own imaginations--were three 2x12's u-bolted to a crude pipe frame to approximate some teeter-totters.

While "busing" was something that caused some strife under court-ordered integration in Louisville in 1975--and still causes some controversy even today--it was nothing new to us. We rode the bus to school, except for the kids who lived close enough to walk. At the "Annex," we rode the bus the 3 blocks to the main grade school for a cafeteria lunch...at 25 cents a day for that meal [Extra milk was 2 cents for a half-pint carton...and chocolate milk was ONLY allowed on "special occasions', with an extra carton costing 3 cents.]. And we rode the bus back to the "Annex" for afternoon classes...and then we rode the bus home. Black kids and white kids all rode the same buses, and we all managed to get along. No, we didn't sit an a circle holding hands singing "Kum-Ba-Yah" at school; we were too busy teasing each other about who had a crush on what girl, or playing "catchers" ["TAG! YOU'RE IT!"] or some other game that normal first-graders play.

We weren't taught how to be "politically correct" back then. The environment? Well, they tried to teach us to clean up after ourselves, and not to waste things, with varying degrees of success...but I guess that's that's the heart and soul of effective environmental protection--cleaning up after yourself, and not wasting resources--isn't it?

In the community where I grew up, owning a gun was not only accepted, but it was almost expected. Back then, most everyone either hunted or fished, many did both, and we skinned or scaled and cleaned and gutted and cooked and ate what we shot or caught...or gave it to someone who WOULD cook and eat it. "Catch and release"?? Only if the fish wasn't big enough to be a "keeper." Often we seined our own minnows, and usually threw back the crawdads and hellgramites that we occasonally ended up with...although some folks used them for bait, too.

So I guess growing up as I did, I never understood the need for any of the "politically correct" BS we keep hearing abut these days...because we knew better than to pollute the places where we hunted and fished, among other things, because we wanted to continue to be able to hunt and fish there. And we knew who our friends were, and didn't care if they were black or white becaus we all grew up riding the same school buses, and shared the same classrooms, lunchrooms and restrooms at school anyway.

And in my eyes, it's a shame it's taking the rest of the country so long to try to learn what I was being taught in first grade, at what used to be the old "colored school."

Growing Up In Downtown Corydon

When I was a kid, I pretty much grew up in downtown Corydon, IN. And since my dad and grand-dad ran a business in town, I knew most of the businessmen [and women] as well. So anyone who grew up in Corydon during our era might well remember:

*when the Krause Hotel at South Capitol and Poplar Streets burned down;
*the Corydon Jaycees' annual Pancake Festival, which used to close off all of Elm and Beaver streets for carnival rides every May;
*the old Blaine Hays law office on the southeast corner of Chestnut Street and Capitol Avenue;
*the Eureka Telephone Company's green-glazed building;
*the Elm Restaurant [bonus points for having come and gone through the side door];
*Foley's Barber Shop, on the south side of East Chestnut street;
*Dwight Harper's barber shop, when it was between Berlin's and Davidson's Pool Room;
*Ledford's Grocery...as well as Johnny Frederick's;
*Rick Warrick's Buick dealership, on the "Mauckport Hill", across from Claude Windell's Shell station;
*Corydon Auto Supply, across Capitol Avenue from the courthouse;
*Hobie Poellein's Western Auto store, where we got most of our bicycle accessories;
*Nelson's Firestone, on Chestnut Street, where we got the rest of our bike stuff;
*Ordner's Variety Store...bonus if you remember when they were over by the Corydon State Bank;
*North Side Garage, operated by Kelly Hardin;
* West Side Garage, operated by Tom and Doug Robson;
*the original Hamburger Castle, and the pinball machines in the back that cost a nickel a game, 6 for a quarter;
*Roy LaHue and Sons mens clothing store;
*the A & P grocery [and the smell of freshly-ground coffee when you walked in the door];
*the Marathon station just before Parks Chevrolet;
*the Mobil gas station on the West Hill;
*Sherrill's Roller Rinks...the one on the hill AND the one at the fairgrounds;
*the rampside Corvair appliance delivery truck from Hurst-Miles Hardware store;
*home milk delivery by both Sealtest and by Kannapel's Dairy.

These are but a few of my childhood memories of growing up in Corydon. I'm sure you have your own, and some will be different from mine. But these were a part of growing up in an isolated small town, and with the interstate highway system, the kind of childhood we had can never happen again.

Organizing the Garage: An Exercise In Futility

Ever since the days of the caveman, the "man-cave," also known in modern vernacular as a "garage," has been disorganized. Man has, through the centuries, invented many storage devices to help organize this "man-cave," and yet nearly all have utterly failed in this purpose. Man has even used "wo-man" to help organize the "man-cave," but this arrangement has proven unsatisfactory because "wo-man" has different ideas on what is important and what is junk than does Man...and once "wo-man" organizes the "man-cave," Man can never again find what once was close at hand and extremely necessary. So the failure is one of the "cave-man" who utilizes his "man-cave," rather than the reverse. And it has been so since the time of the Neanderthals...and will most likely continue throughout the time of the George Jetsons and beyond. It is our nature, written in our DNA, it seems.