Delk Family History (and more!)

The photos have been updated. To see what is new, click here.

There are new documents updated on the site. Check out the Document Log to see what is new. Will have new photos by the end of the week.

Brian

We know Martha (Maitlen) Delk wrote poems, and yes, I have more to display, but did you know one of her poems was put to music? Check it out on her page, under Documents. The song or poem, is titled “My Little Rosebud.” It may not have been a Top 100 chart topper, but it was good enough to be published and that is all that counts.  I will be posting more documents and photos in the coming week, until then, stay warm and keep in touch.

Brian

And letters to boys of World War One. We have a collection of letters and postcards to and from Frank, Russel and Charlie to Elmer and Martha. In them we learn the little things, who got married, who passed away, what Company is in quarantine because of an outbreak of scarlet fever; you know, the little things. Actually, these letters are a treasure chest of information not only about the Delk family during World War One, but of Weldon, Iowa and the different Companies that the three boys were in. So check out the new letters, they are mostly from Frank and Russel, or Elmer and Martha. Also, on some of them, I have included the scanned postcards with them.

I will be adding more documents in the coming weeks.

Brian

As the saying goes, We only see family at funerals and weddings.  And that is the way it is going with my family. It was not always this way. In fact, and correct me if I am wrong, the Delk-Worden family reunion used to be a huge shindig. There are newspaper articles about how big it was. I was told that people, who were not family, would show up and get in the food line, and that was okay, because in the end, we are all family. It just wasn’t family reunions, there was Thanksgiving and Christmas, and other occasions when the brothers and sisters of Charlie Delk would get together just because they were family.

I remember a few golf outings with Shelby, and he tolerated this teenager who had a temper. I am sure he did not enjoy playing with me, but I enjoyed my time with him. I know I enjoyed my time with him during the holidays when he and his wife Marge opened up their house to the whole clan. There I was, the youngest of the first cousins, pestering him for something or other and being redirected toward the cookie table. If anything, I should of learned patience from him to apply to my own children, but that is another story.

Shelby will be missed. As well as those who have passed before him. Our family will grow smaller, and admittedly, I will not recognize a cousin or two if I pass them by at the grocery store. Hopefully I will see them more at weddings than at funerals, but sadly that will not be the case.

Have a wonderful New Year and stay in touch,

Brian

Franklin  was stationed in Germany during World War One, and apparently had  started a relationship with Gretel Neimann. We have had two postcards translated from old German style handwriting and I have posted them along with some photos of Gretel on Franklin’s webpage. One of the postcards disproves the belief that they were married, but in her mind they were. She is truly heart broken. Will post more if we find anything.

Brian

The thing about family history is this; while researching the past, the present keeps adding to it. Good or bad, family history has to be experienced, which is why I have been so slow to add new material. But there is now more documents and photos up, most of them having to do with Charles Wesley Delk and his immediate family. Keep checking on the photo and document  logs, I may sneak stuff in without announcing it.

Until next time, Brian.

I have now added the three surviving children of Charles Wesley Delk, onto this site. While that may seem small, it opens up the door for more photos and documents to be posted. In the coming month I will be putting up photos of Charles and Bernice Delk’s children, some that may have not been seen since they were developed, locked away in some of their photo albums, forgotten about until now. Also, I will be slowly adding the rest of Ethelred’s descendents, at least the one’s I have verified. By doing this, I will be able to connect people in the group photos.

I will up date the Photo log and Document log when items are added before I add more post, so I would look there before here for updates.

Brian

There are now sixty pages of poems from Martha up on her site. As I mentioned in the last post, I am a slow typist. So, with poem 19, I started scanning them and just making them images. You will see a difference between the new poems and the earlier ones, but who’s counting. Coming up is the Delk annual picnic. I will not be able to attend this year due to a conflict, but I like to give a shout-out to everyone who does make it. If you have anything you would like to share, please pass it along to my Dad and he will make sure it is posted.

Until next time,
Brian

Just playing around and made this graphic of the Delk family line. Probably not a complete representation of the family line since I have not updated my Gedcom file for a while. Still working on getting some more poems and letters added to the site, and I made a nice connection with a distant relative who lives close-by. She was kind enough to share some photos of some gravestones. I will add them to the site next week. As always, comments are always appreciated…

Brian