Karebauer – The family farm

Karebauer is the nickname for my family's farm in the Village of Lippertshofen a suburb of Ingolstadt. With the help of a new found cousin, we know this picture was taken in 1913 when my Great Grandpa Leonhardt Beck traveled back to his homeland.
He left his home village around 1888. I would like to say that he left his homeland as a young man in search of a great adventure in a new country and a new life, but that isn't the story.
He did start a new life in the United States, in Wisconsin to be exact. His story to get here was not a happy one. The details are sketchy to say the least, Leonhardt got into serious trouble with the local law, which made his father angry. This is what caused him to leave his family farm. He then went and lived with another relative for some time and then left Bavaria to come to New York with his bride to be, Marie. They arrived in New York on October 18, 1888, they married the next day and moved to Milwaukee.
He went back to see his family and make amends with his father. This was the last time he went home. He did try to stay in contact with his family over the years, but the relationship with his father never healed.
My cousin and I believe that Leonhardt took the picture as he is missing from it.
I would have loved to say that these people are my relatives, but I can't, only three are, Mathias Beck, his oldest daughter Magdalena, and his wife Walburga. All of the others are local villagers, it was the early 1900's and visitors from America were rare. So there was a lot of excitement.
The farm is still in the family, and hasn't changed much over time. The building that my Great Grandfather Leonhardt Beck was born in is still part of the family farm and so is one of the barns. Buildings have been added to the farm, but it remains largely the same.

Uncle Ray's Photographs

Grandma wrote on the back of this photograph: “Ray's first photo - 1923”. Ray was my Grandma's only sibling and younger brother. While showing me this photograph, I could see Grandma remembering that day and time with her new husband. I believe the location for this picture is one of the parks in Cedarburg. She and Uncle Ray were raised in Cedarburg and then moved to Milwaukee with my Grandpa after they married. When My Grandpa and Uncle Ray didn't work, they would spend a lot of time in Cedarburg on the weekends, because Grandma and Grand Uncle Ray still had family there.

I think this second photograph was taken at my Great Grandmother's home.
This photograph was, also taken by Uncle Ray and, dated 1923, but Grandma had choose not to show it to me when we were going through the box of pictures. After finding it recently in one of the many boxes of photos, I'm curious as to why she choose not to share it. It obviously meant a lot to her because it is the only picture I've found that was laminated. Could it just have been her modesty of showing a racy photo of her and my Grandpa? I know from the dates of these two pictures that my uncle had taken photographs of the newlyweds. Those were different times then ours, public signs of affection amongst proper young people just didn't take place. Was my Grandma too embarrassed to show her granddaughter a photograph of her and my Grandpa kissing or or just an over site on her part? Those are questions I would have liked to ask her.

Beginings

“So, the whole genealogy thing...it's a complicated story.”
Ok, so, I borrowed this sentence from a friend who is also tracing her family. I hope she doesn't mind.
I guess my story starts with my Grandma. When I was little I would go and visit her for a week, it was always the best week of my year. This tradition went on well into my twenties. When I was young Grandma and I would go to the Milwaukee Museum and the Mitchell Park Domes. Most of the time we would walk to where we needed to go, but occasionally we would take the buses. This is where the curiosity begun. We'd ride past some of the cemeteries and Grandma would just mention “That's where my Grandma is, so is your uncle..”. I'd listen not really thinking about it, but filing it away. Grandma and I continued our tradition until she moved in with my uncle. Then it became too hard for her to get downtown. So instead of walking and seeing things, we talked. One time while talking she brought out a box of photographs. This is where the quest to get to know my family actually started.