tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3345853902388617022.post2424418426833516134..comments2024-01-18T10:40:00.953-06:00Comments on An American Downton Abbey: Six Degrees of SeparationAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07774297871771017493noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3345853902388617022.post-55618420232727350882013-04-26T07:28:15.357-05:002013-04-26T07:28:15.357-05:00Katie, thank you for your note. If we're think...Katie, thank you for your note. If we're thinking of the same person I think he went by Otto. The confusion on my part is that the sisters' last driver was named Alfred and was a retired fire chief, and the previous driver was named Otto! I have not heard of Rev. Maschmann but I'll look that up too. And I thoroughly understand your feelings, as you can guess from my later posts, as we were not raised to the life that Neenah knew, so we were very much thrown into the deep end of the pool - just as it was being drained! I find just as happy connections with distant cousins as I do with the people who worked for my aunts as they are equally important to making life happen, just as I can't get by without my plumber, electrician and carpenter. We're having the roof redone at the moment and the workmen have become trusted friends. I don't know how we'll get on when they finish! For Neenah lovers the posts are a little off in left field right now, but in another two weeks I'll be up to our arrival in town and after that I'll be following the research I did in reading old family letters, and the newspapers and interviewing my relatives about the history they remembered. I hope you'll find it very interesting.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07774297871771017493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3345853902388617022.post-9930375489537846062013-04-24T14:50:58.191-05:002013-04-24T14:50:58.191-05:00I stayed up very late last night reading your blog... I stayed up very late last night reading your blog. I stumbled upon it yesterday while investigating some genealogy. I was born and raised in Neenah and over a process came to be transplanted in Oregon. We too are connected thru a couple of different threads of separation. My people come thru the downstairs though. My maternal grandfather was a first cousin to Alfred Otto Richard Erdmann, who served the Misses Babcock as their chauffeur during the 30's and into the 40's.<br /> The other connection is through my maternal grandmother. Her brother-in-law was Benjamin Maschmann who was the minister for the First Presbyterian Church in Neenah during the 20's.<br /> I grew up going to Riverside park for the 4th of July, on hot summer evenings to listen to the community band, and for Sunday drives down your street hearing the stories that my parents knew of our own royal families, that had lived in those beautiful houses. The pride that a commoner feels in their reigning families was alive and well in my youth.<br /> The connections are not as glamorous as what I would have hoped for as a young girl, but none the less thrilling to find now as an old girl.<br /> Your writing is wonderful to read. Thank you for sharing your story with us. I look forward to the next episode, and thankfully it will happen more quickly than the British episodes.Katiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03903470457919735413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3345853902388617022.post-43568825498566987672013-02-10T10:45:13.825-06:002013-02-10T10:45:13.825-06:00Gretchen, Ginger Rogers, Sonia Hennie and all the ...Gretchen, Ginger Rogers, Sonia Hennie and all the other Hollywood bombshells were all in Jimmy Kimberly's stable of "houseguest" who stayed with him down the street here in Neenah (in the house where Larry and Pat Wirth live now). So they were the girlfriends of your third cousin twice removed. I suspect Jimmy's open door to Hollywood was through Hawks (who thought he was a cousin but wasn't) or through his real third cousin (on his mother's side) Carol Lombard. Both are pretty likely candidates. As for Jacqui, click on "Roxanne and Peter Pulitzer" highlighted above in red for a link to the 1982 story that appeared in "People" magazine. See? I was thinking of you!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07774297871771017493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3345853902388617022.post-67164924213671373712013-02-10T10:07:35.961-06:002013-02-10T10:07:35.961-06:00Growing up with you and Grandma, I remember hearin...Growing up with you and Grandma, I remember hearing stories about most of these people but what is our relation to Sonia Hennie and Ginger Rodgers? Is that just through Howard Hawks? And you've got me intrigued about Jimmy's lesbian 3rd wife and her involvement in the divorce of the Pulitzers. Elaborate here or send me an email with details!gretchen567https://www.blogger.com/profile/17333006654291884459noreply@blogger.com