Shatzel Family information

My great, great grandfather Albert F. Shatzel, (whom I posted about previously) wrote down a great deal of family history for his grandchildren before he died. The pages below were given to me by my grandma Karen Haenke MacDonald. It goes back to when the first Shatzels came to the United States and traces the genealogy to my my great grandmother Lucy Shatzel Haenke. There is great detail when it comes to including siblings and distant relatives. Perhaps the most intriguing story is about Albert's Uncle, John Peter Shatzel who was a very wealthy man that mysteriously disappeared (along with 40,000 dollars in gold) before traveling west to avoid the financial hardships of the Civil war. Albert thought it relevant to write about him because Albert was one of the heirs to his fortune that was somehow never inherited do to government chaos caused by the Civil War, Peter's mysterious disappearance, and booming oil and gas companies. He also wrote a great deal about his own father, Jacob Meyer Shatzel who moved his family to Ohio with just 10 dollars to his name. Over the years Jacob had many professions including a roofer, upholsterer, town clerk and later city clerk, lawyer, and elected official of the county commissioners office. There is a lot more information about Jacob and other relatives if you feel like taking the time to read through what he wrote. I'm very grateful that he wrote down what he did. The photo below is of Jacob. Again, I am really sorry, but pages two and three are out of order for the document. I am not sure how to order the photos after uploading them.

Albert F Shatzel

Pearl's Husband, my great, great, grandpa was Albert Shatzel. Here I have posted some photos of him as well as a story written by his daughter, Lucy (my great grandma). He seems to have lead an interesting life as a musician, dentist, and loving husband and father. My grandma Karen remembers him living with them when she was very young. He called her "TNT" and her sister Kirsten "Dynamite." He used to let them come into his work room while he carved intricate designs on cow horns that he got from the slaughterhouse. My grandma tells me that it was very important to him that she knew about her family history. He tried to make her memorize her genealogy. But she was only a little girl. From what I know of him he seemed very kind and really loved his wife Pearl. He is in the first photo of the Pearl post as a young man with a handsome mustache. That photo alone makes me believe they loved each other very much. Below are some additional photos of him when he was older. His wife Pearl is with him in the photo with the telescope. I believe he is holding my grandma Karen and is sitting with Pearl in another photo. For some reason the story scanned out of order. The last page is meant to be the first. You should be able to click on it and it will enlarge as a slideshow.

Pearl Centennial Henney

Here are just a few of the photos that I have of Pearl. It is amazing to me how many photos I have of her, even at time when taking photos was not that common. But she has so many from an early age. She is my great, great grandmother. I believe her father was a politician. I think the story goes that he was giving a speech on Independence day 1876, which was a Centennial celebration for the U.S.A. He was told right before his speech that his baby girl was being born. And thats how she got her middle name. I know that as an adult she was a piano teacher. My grandma told me that her mother (Lucy Shatzel) could remember playing in a piano box as a little girl. She married Albert F. Shatzel, who was a dentist, musician and piano tuner. She was born and lived much of her life in Ohio. But she had contracted Tuberculosis so the doctor recommended that they moved to a more temperate climate. They moved to San Diego California. My grandmother says that Albert loved her very much. She also told me that her mother described her hair as "pinky red" and said she was very beautiful. She died a bit early for her time so my grandma never really got to know her. Thats basically all I know about Pearl. If you know more, please email me. I would like to record it. We named our daughter Pearl after her mostly because we liked the name so much, but also because of all the beautiful photos of her. *Also, some of the baby photos of her were labeled differently or had question marks by them when I first got them. But I relabled them after talking to my grandma about them.

putting it all out there

If I were to horde something it would be family photos and family stories. They are so dear to me. I often find myself staying up way too late, shuffling through these photos, imagining and wondering about all the people. Who were they and how are the significant to me? There are so many questions. But sadly with time, little moths start eating away at the stories and soon there are holes. Then the holes start to spread, and all that is left are little pieces of fibres and scraps of mystery. One day someone will come upon one of these pieces of tattered cloth and look at it and wonder why it is there, hiding in a shoebox under the bed. What is it? What does it represent? If we are not careful, those scraps will be thrown away and future generations will never know what made them who they are. So I have started to collect photos and stories. Slowly I am arranging them and putting them in safe places. One place is on ancestry.com, which has been quite fun as I have connected with new relatives and collaborated with them. The other place will be here. I will post photos and stories about family members. Some stories will be written by myself and some will be written by others. Anyone is welcome to send a story or comment if it is relevant to the person being written about. Most family information comes from my Mother's side of the family, but some may occasionally come from my father's. Hopefully the information will be helpful to family members as well as easily accessible. Enjoy!