My Dad's Side

Two weeks ago I said that I was going to be transferring & writing my memoirs here. I will begin with my family history information. My dad's side is of German descent, here is their story:

My 7xgreat grandfather, Hans Jakob was born in Marthalen, Switzerland in 1701. He worked as a carpenter and married Magdalena in 1723. The couple had four sons, but three died before the family immigrated to the United States in 1735.


Hans Jakob was 37 years old, Magdalena was 28, and their son, Felix, was 8 when they arrived to Pennsylvania on the ship "Mercury." The Jewish family converted to Christian (Lutheran) and Hans Jakob changed the spelling of his name (including his last name, my maiden name, so I'm related to all others who have it)! He died in 1763 in Northampton County, PA. (The exact date is unknown because the Indian Massacres destroyed all trace of settlements.) 

Felix was born in 1727. He married his first wife sometime in the early 1750's and had five children: Jacob, David, Daniel, John and Elizabeth. In 1765, he moved to Rowan County, North Carolina and served in South Carolina during the Revolution. The Revolution caused decay of the Lutheran Church in the South, and Felix joined a new church called The Primitive Baptist Church. In 1790, he married Elizabeth, a widow, who had children of her own. Together, the couple had a son named Felix Jr., who was born after Felix Sr. passed away on August 8, 1791 at the age of 64.

My line was from the first of Felix Sr.'s sons, Jacob, born in 1755 (so my line is all that I write about). Jacob married Hannah and had eight children: Jacob II, Susanna, Elizabeth, Hannah, George, Michael, Barbara, and John. They became members of The Church of Christ which continued through my father.

Jacob II was born in 1783. He married Christina and had one child, Phillip. It is assumed that Jacob was either a farmer or engineer, as all of the men tended to stick to those two professions. Jacob died on October 17, 1858. 

Phillip, the only son of Jacob II, was born in 1807 and married Elizabeth. The couple moved from North Carolina to Indiana, where they had seven children: Mary Jane, Riley, Barbara, John, Phillip Jr., Christopher, and Jacob. Elizabeth died in 1843, and Phillip married Maria on October 3, 1844. They had five children: Hannibal, Moses, David, Mary K, and Rachel. Phillip died in 1891. (One of his grandsons - my 2great grandfather's nephew - ended up inventing the magneto -- what made old cars run! Another was named Christopher Columbus - seriously, LOL!)

Riley, the first son of Phillip, was born in 1831. His goal was to move west, and after traveling for several weeks he ended up in a small town in Missouri where he fell in love with a woman named Mary and married her in 1871. The couple had three children, but one died as an infant. Their two surviving sons were Edward and John Phillip. Riley died on January 14, 1909.

John Phillip, the youngest son of Riley, was born in 1877. He married Harlie Edna on December 24, 1901 and had four children. John Phillip was a farmer until he passed away on July 13, 1963. His oldest, Inez, was born in 1902 and married Wheaton in 1923. They had two sons, Max and John. Inez died in 1977. His second child, Joseph, was born in 1904 and died in a tragic car accident at age 18. His third, Deva, was born in 1909 and married Galen in 1927. [He passed away in 1985] Deva lived in California for over sixty-five years before moving to Iowa in 2002, where she lived at an assisted living & nursing home until she passed away at the age of 96 on August 30, 2005. At one time she worked as the only woman in the experiment & development section of Douglas Aircraft -- what is now Boeing Engineering. She also spent time as a school teacher and a clerk in the city government office. Tragically, all three of her children died at birth. 

Gail Vance, the youngest child of John Phillip, was born on May 11, 1914. He married his high school sweetheart, Frances, on June 3, 1933 and worked as the owner of a General Motors dealership when the company was at its best. (He and my grandma's brother-in-law bought the John Deere & Car Dealership in the early 1950's and then split up so that my great uncle had the tractors and my grandpa had the cars until he sold the dealership when he retired in 1975.) People from cities miles away would come to my grandfather's GM to buy their vehicle. So, my grandfather was very well-known and successful.


In 1908 GM was the world's second-largest automaker, after Toyota. For 77 consecutive years, 1931 to 2007, it was the global sales leader. In late 2008 GM, along with Chrysler, received loans from the United States & Canada to avoid bankruptcy resulting from the 2000s recession, record oil prices and fierce competition. On April 27, 2009, amid ongoing financial problems and restructuring efforts, GM announced that it would phase out the Pontiac brand by the end of 2010 and focus on four brands in North America: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC. It also announced the resolution (sale) of its Hummer, Saab, and Saturn brands. GM had previously eliminated the Oldsmobile brand earlier in the decade. General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 1, 2009. 

Their town was built in 1857 and became the county seat in 1864. The coming of the railroad in 1882 was a big boom for the town and it grew rapidly for several years. But when the railroad closed in 1945 the town began to decrease in size (my dad said it was about 1500 when he grew up there, in 2007 only 799 residents were reported). 

My grandparents had three children: Mary Katherine (Mary K) on May 18, 1937, James Paul (Jim) on November 7, 1943, and Joseph Gail (Joe) on November 12, 1948. My grandmother was a homemaker and also did the bookkeeping for the car dealership. Gail died on February 17, 1997.
Mary K (my aunt), the oldest child of Gail, attended the Christian College of Columbia, MO (what is now Stephens College) for two years and majored in History. She was married on May 17, 1958 to Dave (see my post RIP Uncle Dave). They had three children: Betty Gail (born 1961; married - Martin, 1984; children - Kirsten, 1991; divorced; married - Frank, 2008, lives in WI), Paul (born 1964; married - Kim, 1989; children - Elena, 1999, Lydia, 2002, Liam, 2006; lives in WI), and Sara Frances/Fran (born 1969; married - Mark, 1991; divorced; married - Rick, 1999; children - Katie, 2000; lives in MN). Mary K worked at the Citizens Bank during the first year of her marriage, while her husband was stationed in Alaska with the Air Force, and then was a stay-at-home mom. She passed away on September 23, 1977 from breast cancer, and Dave remarried to Maretta on August 3, 1980. They lived in WI at the time of Dave's death on September 17, 2009.

Meanwhile, Jim (my uncle), the middle child of Gail, married Bobbe (her aunt had been friends with Jim's sister) on March 28, 1964 and had three children: Scott (born 1965. Married Beverly, 1990. Children - Zach, 1993, Mitch, 1996; lives in TX), Chad (born 1969. Married Jennifer, 1991. Children - James Paul, 1992. Divorced. Married Kellee (who already had sons Kriegan and Cameron). Children – Alexander, 1999. Divorced. Daughter Ella, 2014. Married Kellie, 2015; lives in TX), and Matt (born 1971. Married Kelli. Children - Cullen, 1997, Katherine, 2000, and Connor, 2002; lives in TX). Bobbe retired after 40 yrs of teaching and Jim managed many businesses over the years after graduating from The University Of Missouri in 1966 with a BS in Agriculture. They have lived in Texas since the early 1980's.

My grandpa was 83 when he passed away (I was 17 - he was the first person I'd known to die, my first funeral). He was quiet when I came to visit; he always stayed in the same chair, watching TV. He loved technology and was always the first to buy the latest "gadget." I wish I knew more about him. . .what he was like as a young adult, a husband, a father. But he must have had ambition and leadership qualities to be able to run a successful business.

Joe, the youngest child of Gail, is my dad. He married my mother, Kathleen, on August 26, 1970 and graduated from Northwest Missouri State College that December with a major in Speech-emphasis Radio & TV broadcasting. I, Andrea Marie was born nine years later in Des Moines, IA. On May 17, 1986, Joe married Yvonne (Evy) and their son, Jacob Augustine, was born on July 9, 1987. Joe married Sebyl (Seb), an Army Nurse, on October 19, 1991 (she had three kids from a previous marriage: Mike born around 1969 who has two sons Carter and Nicholas from two previous relationships, Leslie born around 1971 who is married to Andy with three kids Cameron, Amelia, and Andrew, and Matt born around 1975 who is married to Tracy with three kids Dylan, Kayden, and Gage). 

For Christmas 2008 Joe and Seb purchased a home on Lake Michigan to be close to Seb's kids and grandchildren who have always resided there. In 2015 they sold their house in Bondurant where they'd lived since 2000 and have been in Grand Haven, MI full-time. Joe was in the Marines and retired as a helicopter pilot from the National Guard in 1997. He worked as a Special Agent for the Division of Criminal Investigation in Des Moines since 1977, starting his career specializing in homicides, and ending in 2009 when he retired as head of the Iowa Sex Offender Registry Unit for the entire state of Iowa.

My brother (Jacob) grew up in a small town in Iowa. His mom married his stepfather (David) in 1990 and had a son (Daniel), another son (Sean) in 1993, and a daughter (Maggie) in 1996. His stepfather had been married twice before so he had two other daughters and a son (Shelly, Michael, and Ashley) - giving my brother a total of 10 brothers & sisters (including our stepmom's children and myself)! Maybe this made him determined to make a name for himself - although, I remember thinking as far back as when he was three years old that he had the personality of a leader and someone who was driven to succeed. In high school he was Class President all 4 years, a wrestler, kicker in football, and soccer goalie. He was the lead in every high school play, a member of the National Honor Society, the school band, mentoring, speech, and the choir at church. In the fall of 2004, Jacob was elected to the homecoming court and began to play the guitar, which he still enjoys in his free time.

Jacob spent his freshman year of college ('05-'06) at Luther in Decorah, IA, where he began his major of pre-medicine to become an orthopedic surgeon. There, he was a part of the soccer team and band. That summer, Jacob won "Best Actor" at the YMTA competition in New York (first place of 1500 males). After impressing 16 agents when he auditioned for roles that included a hosting spot on Nickelodeon and for a part on Days of Our Lives, Jacob was asked to sign with the same agency that represented Brandon Routh (the most recent Superman), so he made the decision to relocate to Hollywood in October 2006 to pursue acting full-time. Less than a month later he landed his first part, as a "bad boy" in a motorcycle safety video. More independent and commercial roles followed, including a national commercial that was popular during Christmas 2008 (Claus promoting the Centro palm pilot). But, Jacob left the business in 2011 when he married Michele, and he joined the Air Force in 2013. His daughter, Autumn Rose, was born in February 2014, son Kingston in August 2015, and son Lincoln in July 2016.

Wrapping things up. . .I was born on December 21, 1979. My parents separated when I was two and divorced when I was four. My dad remarried when I was six, my brother was born when I was seven, and his parents divorced when I was eight. That same year (1988) my mom married my stepfather and we moved two-and-a-half hours away to a small town. My dad married my current stepmother when I was 11. I graduated high school in 1998 and received my Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Iowa State University in 2002. I married my college sweetheart, Joe, on April 26, 2003 and moved near Omaha, NE. I worked in TV and radio until becoming a stay-at-home-mom when our son, Logan, was born on April 18, 2008. Our daughter, Krissa, was born July 15, 2011 and we moved back to Iowa that same summer. I signed a contract with a publisher in December 2013 and have been a full-time author ever since. :-)