Schumm Reunion 2012

75th Anniversary of Zion Lutheran, Schumm, 1921. Photo copied at 2012 Schumm Reunion.

The 2012 family reunion season is over for me. I was able to attend two out of three family reunions and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

The Schumm reunion was this past weekend. Although I wasn’t able to attend the church service, which included the dedication of the John George Schumm Bible, I went into the church as soon as I got there to look at the Bible.

John George Schumm’s Bible was donated to the congregation of Zion by the descendants of W. J. Schumm (1883-1967). The Bible is now housed in a beautiful wood case, opened to the 23rd Psalm. It is a large Bible. I didn’t measure it but it is probably about 18 inches by 12 inches. It was printed in 1692 in Nuremberg, Bavaria, and John George brought it with him when he came to America in 1833. The Bible appears to be in very good condition and it was exciting to see it.

John George Schumm Bible.

Zion’s former pastor Rev. Robert Schuler gave the message at Sunday’s church service. Back in the 1970s Rev. Schuler knew our pastor at Zion, Chattanooga. My mom said that Rev. Schuler was at our home for my grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary in 1977. I don’t remember that but maybe she has a photo of that event somewhere. Rev. Schuler’s daughter Martha was a Parkway graduate and she came all the way from Colorado for the reunion.

After viewing the Bible I went outside to the pavilion where the reunion was being held. I had a table off to the side so I could scan photos. There were groups of photos from several people and I scanned them with my Flip Pal portable scanner and my wand scanner. Both scanners worked well and I was able to scan large and small photos as well as photos in albums. A couple people came prepared and brought digital photos on thumb drives. Thanks to everyone who shared their photos.

After the meal Mary Ann Falk from Van Wert provided the entertainment by singing several songs. There appeared to be about 200 Schumm relatives at the reunion Sunday and several attendees were recognized. The relative who traveled the farthest was from Seattle. Velma Schumm, 98, was the oldest female there and Vince Muntzinger, 92, was the oldest man in attendance. Wilbert and Ella Thieme were honored as being married the longest, 62 years.

Dave and Carol, brother and sister from New York, brought one of those long narrow photos of the 75th Anniversary of Zion Lutheran, dated 10 July 1921. I love these large group photos with so many people to look at! They said it was found in an area antique store. I really need to get out more and look around in those local shops. The wand scanner did a pretty good job scanning the long photo. It just looks a little wavy in the middle. I may have not have been moving the wand scanner steadily.

75th Anniversary of Zion Lutheran, Schumm, 1921.

A few of us were able to identify some relatives in the 1921 photo. My grandfather Cornelius Schumm is usually fairly easy to spot because he had very dark eyes and bushy hair. He is in the center of the photo below:

Cornelius Schumm, center, 1921.

I also located Cornelius’ parents Lewis and Sarah (Breuninger) in the photo. They were not sitting together and it appears that the men and women were seated in separate groups. I’m glad Sarah was holding her hat in her lap so that her face could be seen.  Sarah died 21 August 1921, a little over a month after the photo was taken. This was probably the last photo taken of her. She is in row 2, the woman to the left:

Sarah (Breuninger) Schumm, row 2, woman on the left, 1921.

Unfortunately no one knew the identities of individuals in the 1924 photo of the first Schumm reunion. I have not found my grandmother Hilda (Scaer) or her mother Lizzie (Schinnerer) Scaer in either the 1921 or 1924 photo. I know they attended church at Zion. Perhaps they were camera shy.

Louis Schumm, row 2, 2nd from left, 1921.

Alma Buechner, identified as the girl in the second row, far right:

Alma Buechner (1907-1998), row 2, far right, 1921.

Plans are already in motion for the next Schumm reunion, to be held on 3 August 2014. And I have already started going through and sorting the photos I scanned Sunday. I hope to have some digitized Schumm photos on thumb drives to pass out at the next reunion.

 

2 comments

    • Carol Schumm Piper on August 10, 2012 at 2:19 pm
    • Reply

    Hi Karen,

    I’m so glad we got to meet you last Sunday at the reunion. I’m also really glad that you got to copy and post the photo of the 75th reunion. I think it came out great! I’ll keep checking to see if anyone is identified and will keep track on the back of our photo. I also remember Grandpa Herman (son of “River Henry” – Herman’s the one who bought the picture and gave it to me) pointing out that the man at the back left, with the straw hat on was the photographer. I asked Grandpa where his mother was, because she also was not in the picture, and he said that she was probably in the background, next to the church, or in the basement cooking.

    1. Hi Carol! It was great talking to you and your brother last week, too. I so enjoy looking at those old photos and I can tell you both like looking through them, too. Thanks for the additional information about the photo. Did Dave say he knew which man was River Henry? I think he usually had a beard. He died in 1922, a year after the photo was taken. He would have been about 77 years old when the photo was taken. I beginning to think my grandmother and great-grandmother were in the basement cooking, too! Take care. Karen

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