Paul Myers

Professor Raymond
UWRT 1103-038
3 October 2015
A Family of Jokesters
The earliest relics my family owns are written in German. My ancestors belong to some
unknown Germanic state, be it Austria, Prussia, or any of the numerous small states that
make up modern Germany. We dont know when or why they left, or when they arrived in
German. All I know is that we have three German language bibles and a certificate addressed
to a man named Slias Seller. The bibles range in age with the oldest, supposedly, from the
15th century with the newest from the 19th. The certificate is particularly interesting, as the
writing is very difficult to read, official looking, and clearly very old. It is dated Wien, am
20. Mai 1890. The word Wein, is very interesting as it translates out to Vienna. This
indicates that Mr. Seller was Austrian and the certificate was sent from the capitol of Vienna.
This paper fails to prove much of anything, but is an indication of my familys potential
origin.
There are other scraps from the past that hint at various relatives intriguing stories. One
such item would be the school project that Mary Weishampel created, in 1907. The project
was on a man by the name of John Greenleaf Whittier, a poet famous enough to get a
woodcut and a Wikipedia page. According to the Academy of American Poets, he was a
Quaker abolitionist who published his first poem when he was nineteen. He wrote profusely
for a number of abolitionist papers and even published books of poetry (Poets.org). One of

his works, Snowbound, is actually quite interesting. It is well written and a unique expression
of the times. Turns out Im distantly related to the man.
Another thing that caught my eye was a series of blue-tinted photographs from the very
early 20th or late 19th century. The pictures belong to the mother of one John Addison, West
Point cadet. One of the pictures shows a number of cadets in grey overcoats standing in a
snow covered landscape. The uniforms were clearly modeled on the European uniforms and
looked quite a bit like those from the Napoleonic War. The first hint they were American was
the cap, as it bore the eagle and shield emblem of the United States military. Several other
pictures helped date the images, the fashions worn by Addisons father and mother or the
dynamite gun which Addison and his father stood in front of. These distinctive artillery
pieces were short lived and were only used between the 1880s and the 1910s (Hamilton). The
cap also comes back to further narrow it down to the 20th century based off its design (Cole).
I know that, based off of my grandfathers research, he married into the Weishampel line and
into my family.
The first relatives that I know very much about would be Everett and Mary Myers, as
Mary was still alive within my fathers lifetime. Everett died early, at some point in his 50s,
while Mary stayed hale and hearty into her late 80s. The two of them lived in Alexandersville
Ohio (the area that would later become Dayton) and owned a store with an apartment above.
This is my familys first known home. They had it well, and that saved them from the worst
of the Depression. Mary never had to work and let Everett handle the finances. This actually
worked out, as Everett didnt trust banks or stocks and had a great mind for money. When the
Depression hit, they didnt lose too much of their savings. Everett also, rightly, predicted that
the store would cost too much to maintain with the economic downturn and sold it before

they began to lose money on it. They saved up while they could, bought a new house, and
moved on. It was there that my grandfather Paul and his brothers Howard and Ralph were
born.
Ralph was the oldest, born in 1917, Howard the middle child, born in 1921, and my
grandfather Paul, born in 1929, was the youngest. They all grew up in the Depression and
were better off than many of their peers, but had nothing by todays standards. Paul was a
temperate man who was a deeply inquisitive man who led a very regimented life. He didnt
drink or smoke long before it was considered unhealthy. Pauls mind was incredibly sharp
and he was an incredibly quick learner, and he had skills from clockwork to macram. Yes,
macram. He worked at several typesetting companies for decade after decade. He also
served in the Korean War, against his will. He didnt feel American intervention in Korea was
just or necessary. He was fun, with many a witty riposte, and represents the standard that me
and my father both strive for. Lois, my grandmother, was not a particularly warm woman (at
least not in my lifetime), but she likely just got old. She, much like Mary, never had to work.
Her and my grandfather married early and she gradually grew just as regimented as Paul, but
became a little duller.
Ralph and Howards lives were considerably more tragic. Howard was a career soldier
who enlisted in 1928, but left the military after his service in WWII. He became a heavy
alcoholic and smoker. His example was likely what kept Paul from partaking in either vices.
Howard was married and had several children. Ralph served in WWII as well, but reacted to
its horrors much better. He moved to Troy, Ohio, and became a jeweler who specialized in
watches. He married, had three kids, and lived happily for years. His wife was diabetic and
her disease was very poorly treated. His kids moved out and his youngest became a hippie.

He was found dead from an overdose in a Californian nightclubs bathroom. Ralphs wife
died and, a short time later, he ended his life. My father was alive for both their deaths, both
of which had a lasting impact on the man he would become.
My grandparents raised both my father and my aunt Paula at 638 Cottage St. in Dayton.
Both my father and Paula moved out at an early age. Aunt Paula married a man by the name
of Glen Manning and has been happily married for decades. She worked as a school
counselor for decades until her retirement a few years ago. My father, however, tried the
whole school thing, dropped out, and moved west.
My father loved construction and worked in project management for the California based
company SCAN. It was here that he met my mother, for the first time. My mother worked for
a company in Atlanta. According to them, they met at a work function, had dinner, but then
lost contact after they were both reassigned. This was, of course, before the internet or
cellphones. Years later, they met at another work function. Fortunately enough for me my
mother was now working for Honda in their Los Angeles office, the same city as my father.
They began traveling together and have told me countless tales of their bright blue Chevy
Blazer with which they traversed the west, from the Rockies to the Mojave. By 1990 they
were married, and, by 1996, I was born.

Works Cited
Cole, David. "Survey of U.S. Army Uniforms, Weapons and Accoutrements." United State Army Center
for Military History. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.
Hamilton, William. "American Machine Cannon and Dynamite Guns." American Machine Cannon and
Dynamite Guns. Sam Houston State University. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
"John Greenleaf Whittier." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.