Latest News
Our General News and Update Section
July 1, 2003
|
Happy Fourth of July to all visitors to the Bratnober family
website! We are very proud to have one thousand visits to the website as the reunion
draws nigh. Forgive our appearance of inactivity recently because a lot is actually
going on.
First, it is not too late to attend and family members can
always email Jane Bratnober Ransom at ransom6922@msn.com
in order to get details about joining us in the Twin Cities on the weekend of August
1st to 3rd. If you are already planning to attend, and you have any remaining
questions, please email Jane at this address as well. The Minnesota Bratnober
contingent has done an excellent job of planning an enjoyable, modestly priced event
for everyone and we look forward to seeing you there.
Equally industrious, behind the scenes, are editor Gale
Bratnober Brugeman and book designer Sarah Bratnober—working toward completion of the
new edition of the Augustus Autobiography. It will be a very beautiful book, titled
Soldier and Scribe: The Autobiography of Augustus Charles Bratnober
with family photographs and a colorful dust jacket. While the book may not be
complete at the time of the reunion, sample material will be on display along with a
firm schedule for when you can receive your copy soon after! Please see the new
“Book” page here at the website for more information.
We complete our website this month with a brief
biography of Louise Bratnober—about whom we know the least among the Five Siblings.
We will maintain the website for one more year after the reunion, with
occasional updates and a build out of a family tree.
Thank you everyone and happy Fourth of July. We look forward to seeing you soon! -JB
|
March 15, 2003
|
(1869 - 1908)
Vocalist, daughter of
Augustus Charles
|
We are very proud to present the Augustus Charles page this
month. I would like to thank a whole host of people including relatives Edna McArthur
Medd and Jana O’Keefe Swanson; Seattle historian Tom Hitzroth; Iowa-based genealogists
Mike the “Genie Man” and Bob Leutner; Clear Lake, Washington historians Noel Bourasaw
and Deanna Ammons; and the only man I ever met (back in 1978) who had known
Augustus—Gus Sorebo.
We’ve also added a whole host of new “historical documents”.
Just scroll down on the main history/photos page
and click on the one that interests you.
I’d like to congratulate and thank our web page designer-in-chief
this month—Davis Chu of Corte Madera, California. Davis is a twenty-one year
old computer science student at nearby College of Marin. If you'd like to send your
comments to Davis he can be reached at
cpu333@hotmail.com.
It’s important for family members who haven’t done so already
to let Jane Bratnober Ransom know soon if you think you will be able to attend
the reunion. Just email her with your postal address at
ransom6922@msn.com and you’ll receive a
complete packet with details by mail.
And last, a call for historical information about Louise
Bratnober Freeburn—the last of the Five Siblings about whom we have the least
information and only a couple of photos at the moment. We’ll begin adding photos of
the children and grandchildren of the Five Siblings next month—and we’ll also try to
start the daunting task of building a chart of descendents for each sibling.
Best regards, JB
|
February 15, 2003
It’s winter, but we haven’t been napping (too much) at Bratnober Dot Com.
We’re especially glad to introduce the completed Ralph Bratnober
page in our History/Photo section this month. Please go see it when you can. I
couldn’t have put it together without the help of several generous people, especially
Ralph Bratnober descendents Doris Hughes and Jana O’Keefe Swanson. I also want to
thank the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society, Jamie Benson of the Prince Albert
Historical Society, and the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Canada.
We’ll be adding substantially to our Bratnober Historical Documents list as time
allows – just click on the document or photo that interests you on the
History/Photos page as it grows.
During January, back on the frozen tundra, the Minnesota Bratnobers & Co. convened
in Minneapolis to begin planning the Reunion. Please take a moment now, if you
haven’t done so yet, to email us with your mailing address at
john@bratnober.com to learn more about the reunion
by mail.
Minnesota Bratnober clan conducts high level discussions about the reunion.
Back row: Ellie Joyce, Mike Taylor, Phil Bratnober, Robert Bratnober, Sarah Bratnober, and Justin Bratnober.
Front row: Jane Ransom, Laura Taylor, Pat Saunders and Susan Bratnober
And who are some of the other people behind the reunion, the book, and the website
outside of Minnesota you might also be asking? Actually, we’ve had two remote
“practice reunions” of our own.
|
Augustus descendant Gale Brugeman meets Ralph descendant
Jana O’Keefe Swanson below the Mason-Dixon line in South Carolina
|
Augustus descendant John Bratnober meets Ralph descendant
Doris Hughes, while braving February temperatures way down in
the low 60’s in Northern California
|
The Augustus page is coming next. Best wishes to everyone. -JB
|
December 7, 2002
SPECIAL CHRISTMAS NOTE!
Everyone in the family who would like to begin receiving
information about the reunion is invited to reply to "john@bratnober.com".
If you’re getting our email update announcements, naturally this means we have your
email address. But do we have your regular mailing address too? If you haven’t sent
this along, please do so now. And kindly take a moment to think of other family
members now whose names and addresses we may not have received yet at all, and send
these along to the email address above as well.
IF YOU HAVEN’T REPLIED to us at all yet, and you’re a family member who is
interested, please take a moment to do so now. We want you to have our invitation
with preliminary reunion information and our Christmas greetings too! Thank you.
|
|
We’re very pleased to introduces two new sections on the
website. The crucial page for finding these things is the History/Photo page – if
you haven’t been there yet and clicked on the names and sections that are available.
The big new section we’re especially proud to introduce this
month is found by clicking on PAULINE ALBERTINA’S name in the History/Photo section.
Many thanks to Canadian relatives Yvonne Sheane, Ken Medd, Edna Medd, and Pauline
McArthur Rowan for their wonderful help and contributions. We are very glad to be
so connected with the McArthur family once again!
The EARNEST WILHELM and the EARLIER BRATNOBER
HISTORY sections are now well developed too. Just click on these words on the
History/Photos page! We’ve collected a large variety of historical documents over
the years that we’re going to simply list as BRATNOBER HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS on
the lower half of the History/Photos page. Just click on the underlined name of the
particular
|
document that interests you and up it should "pop" on your computer
screen for closer examination. Look for the Rudolph Henrick "Ralph" Bratnober
section to become available next month!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! - JB
|
November 7, 2002
Good things are happening behind the scenes at Bratnober.Com.
Gale Brugeman, of South Carolina, will be visiting the Chickamauga Battlefield National Park
in Tennessee this month, where Augustus fought, and she'll be meeting with James Ogden,
the historian of the archives there.
We began our connection with Dr. Ogden and the archives when we noticed that a forthcoming book
about the Civil War, When Philosophers Were Kings, by Steven Best (Sunstone Press) references the
"August Bratnober Diary" in the bibliography on the internet, mentioning that this "diary" is in
the Chickamauga Battlefield Archives! (See: http://www.smbest.com)
We reached the author, Steven Best, who was equally glad to hear from us. Gale also got right in
touch with the Archives in Tennessee. To make a long story short, we learned that Carl Bratnober
had thoughtfully provided the archives with a copy of about twenty pages from the Augustus book,
the pages relevant to the Battle of Chickamauga, way back in 1942. Thus we found the origin of
the occasional references to the Augustus book that continue to appear, now and then, in scholarly
works about the Civil War. Our only disappointment was to learn that we had not found the actual
pocket diary that Augustus mentions losing, when he leaves his jacket behind in an ambush during
the Civil War. Alas, the real diary may be gone forever.
Cover art from the forthcoming book When Philosophers were Kings, by Steven M. Best (Sunstone Press, 2003),
the story of a fictitious Wisconsin soldier and his family during the Civil War. Courtesy of www.smbest.com.
Dr. Ogden is currently preparing a new exhibit about the great battle near Chickamauga Creek
in Tennessee and we are very pleased to be providing him with a photograph of Augustus that
he's requested for the exhibit. Steven Best was already contemplating writing a new book specifically
about the 10th Infantry Regiment of Wisconsin, which suffered an overwhelming 211 casualties among just 240 men
in the battle. We'll be very happy to provide him and the Archives at Chickamauga with copies of
the new edition of the full book next year. Thank you Drs. Ogden and Best.
Penny Postcard postmarked 1906 found by Jana O'Keefe Swanson's sister
on Ebay
captioned "Hotel at San Souci Park - Waterloo, IA",
built by CP Bratnober around 1900
On another front, Jana O'Keefe Swanson sends along a wonderful image from an old penny postcard that her sister
found for her at Ebay. CP Bratnober, son of Augustus built a resort hotel on San Souci Island, near Waterloo, Iowa,
around 1900 and here is the old postcard image! The hotel, alas, is long gone-a reunion location possibility that
we had already investigated. The island is residential today, with a nice park, according to a recent newspaper
article in Waterloo. We understand that the island has a wonderful family atmosphere with beautiful older homes.
Special thanks to Edna McArthur Medd of Canada and Doris Hughes of Iowa for sending extensive materials about Pauline and Ralph,
respectively, that will help us to develop a much more complete family picture!
Deepest behind the scenes, in her atelier in Minnesota, graphic artist Sarah Bratnober is
working on the new book design and gathering bids and estimates from printers and binders.
Thank you, Sarah! We'll open the book section of the website soon with some more background
information for those who are new to the book. We've already had inquiries from several historians
who have found us and would like to know more.
NEWEST at this website: The Henry Bratnober section is now mostly complete-though we have a few more items to add,
even here, thanks to a new friend in Piedmont, California. More on this next month. Just click on the History/Photos button on the main page
if you haven't already done so, and then click on "Earnest Wilhelm."
Look for the Pauline Bratnober and Early Bratnober History before 1854 sections next.
If we don't have your email address, and you'd like to receive updates, just send along an email message
to john@Bratnober.com and you'll get an announcement
from us when something substantial and new has been posted. Regards to all, JB.
October 5, 2002
We hope the website is functioning well for you now. Thanks
to those who sent us glitch reports. There are many different browser versions
out there on different computers. If the web page still looks jumbled in any way on
your computer please let us know. Suggestions always welcome too.
It's a pleasure to have a variety of new emails. We've had
much appreciated email greetings from Carol Bratnober Prowse of Minnesota and
England; Colleen Bratnober Skjerven of Wisconsin; and Laura Bratnober Taylor of
Minnesota-all descendants of Augustus Charles. Thank you each!
And most recently we've heard from Yvonne Sheane of Canada,
the great great granddaughter of Pauline Albertina Bratnober. Moreover, Yvonne says
her mother is doing well, at 88, and her mother wants us to know that she "remembers
Pauline fondly." Pauline Albertina, the youngest of the five Bratnober siblings in
our opening photograph, lived until 1924 and we have several fine photographs of her
to include on this website soon. Pauline was the wife of Canadian steamship pioneer
Peter McArthur and they have many descendants. Thank you, Yvonne.
|
I should also mention an enjoyable visit that I had with
Robert and Susan Bratnober in Minnesota, shortly after five of us began to hatch
this reunion attempt in August. Bob related a truly exceptional family history
experience-his visit to Mount Bratnober in the Yukon Territory of Canada. The 6,300
foot peak is near the town of Champagne along the Alaskan Highway, should you
be passing that way anytime soon. Bob also found a book about the region that
includes a page about early mining explorer, Henry Bratnober (far right in the
opening photo at this website) after whom the Mount is named.
|
Alaska Highway, Yukon Territory, Canada - Milepost 940. From left to right: Mount
Kelvin, an unnamed mountain and Mount Bratnober. Photo courtesy of Falke Bruinsma
http://photos.innersource.com/page/45/12/225
|
Even if you can't attend or you don't plan to attend the
reunion, we really appreciate hearing from you. As we begin to build the
photo/history section you'll see where the gaps are. Despite the unflagging
efforts of our most indefatigable researcher, Jana O'Keefe Swanson-a Rudolph
Bratnober descendant-we still have gaps and question marks in the family tree. As
the photo/history section develops, pointers and corrections from family visitors
are always welcome. Not to mention your old photos, which you can always scan at a
scanner-equipped copy shop and then email to us-keeping your originals at home where
they belong. Regards to all, John B.
|
|
