Deep Roots Family Tree Blog

Favorite Ancestor

I can’t pick a favorite ancestor. There are a handful that take turns for the top spot and right now I would say it is my great-grandma, Alida Sophia Amerman (Bartl). My mom had a very special relationship with Alida, her grandma. Instead of Bethany Marie, I was almost an Aletha Sophia.

Out of all of my ancestors, I have heard the most stories about Alida. She was very much a spitfire in her early days with a deep deep sadness that she tried to mask. I learned recently that she was sent miles away from her family to give birth to a child, out of wedlock, and then ultimately the child dying during birth or shortly after. I admire her strength, tenacity, and love for a little mischief.

I had the chance to meet her. Unfortunately, Parkinson’s dementia made it impossible to talk to her. She was a shell of her former self.

I was in Forman one summer and the downside of an extremely small town is that there isn’t always a whole lot to do. I’m not sure whose idea it was but my cousin and I had decided to make a picnic lunch and go eat it down by Lake Lithia (not the type of lake you would want to go swimming in). After our lunch, we made our way over to the nursing home where our great-grandma Alida was residing at the time. We did this 3-4 times that week. I distinctly remember eating bologna sandwiches and some type of potato chip.

For as long as I could remember, grandma Alida was not conversational. She was kind of just…there. One of the times my cousin and I visited her, she was a bit more lucid. She was still unable to form a coherent sentence, but she was reaching for me and seemed to know who I was. I remember being fearful in the moment because this was the most I had ever seen her move and make very deliberate actions. I can’t remember how long we stayed after that, but we did eventually make our way back to grandmas house. I told my mom what had happened and she said “She probably thought you were me.” I looked a lot more like my mom when I was a kid.

I think one of my favorite stories of her is when they got pulled over by the police on the highway. I can’t remember who all was there or who was driving, but they were apparently speeding, which makes me think that the driver was one of my uncles, and they were stopped. But apparently my great-grandma Alida was sitting in the back seat and as the police officer was pulling them over, she had turned around and was making silly faces at him through the back window as the cars came to a hault. By this point she was likely already in her 70s.

I don’t think they got a ticket that day.

I asked my mom to text me a favorite story that she has of her grandma Alida. As the oldest grandchild, mom and Alida had a special bond. They spent a lot of time together. To my surprise, my mom texted me a short story that I had never heard before.

Grandma had a Buick. Back then (the 60s) they were big. It was glacier blue, fins on the back. She was going to move from the street to the back yard and I was going with. We got to the end of the street and no brakes! So, we ended up going straight as it was too late to turn. She slowed waaay down. We finally made it to the back yard and she threw it in park to stop it. Scary for both of us but rather fun. Ince we were parked, we both just laughed till tears ran down our faces.

I thought I had heard them all. Special thanks to my mom for taking the time to share it with me!

Now… the photo above has me asking some questions… I know grandma Alida is the woman standing on the right. In front of her are her brother, Alfred, and his new wife, Bessie. Standing next to Alida is, according to several sources, Alfred Lilla (my mom thinks it was Lilly, a family friend). Depending on what year this wedding was, I have a tiny suspicion that Alfred Lilla might be the father of Alida’s first child who died during or shortly after birth. You can read more about that in a previous post.

I have to double check several things and try to get more information from my mom or my aunt, if they even know anything, to try to confirm my suspicions.

…down another rabbit hole