Esquire Coffinberry's Great-Grand-Niece

I created this blog to express my thoughts as the early days of online bulletin boards began to decline. Then my content at this blog diminished as Facebook became the primary mode of sharing thoughts (you can see it in the timeline... FB became a "thing" along around 2008, about when I quit posting). But FB is just not that pleasant a place to play anymore, and its algorithm shapes my bubble in ways I reject. I do not like that.     So, as I prepare to attend another conference with the StoryMakers Guild, I choose to re-establish this site as where I write and think about writing. However, all the old Esquire Coffinberry stuff will stay here. It is a reflection of where I was, and where my roots are. Indeed, a couple characters, Dan and Anna, in the current book received their first fleshing-out at this blog.  The Flower Woman of Salt Lake  is my current project, such as it is. I've been researching its title character for nearly 23 years. She is the gift that ...

 I came here today remembering that it has been 20 years since starting law school. I'm very glad I kept this record of life in the Coffinberry household during such a transformative time! I wouldn't trade those years for anything! And by gosh I am so proud of all the Coffinberrys. Where are they all? Well, our cats Pixel and Shadowfax both crossed the Rainbow Bridge. Son One, who was a rising HS Senior in the concert choir when the blog started is a High School math Teacher in Houston. He and his wife have a delightfully precocious 1 year old, who plays with me online (she probably thinks of me as an interactive Miss Rachel just for her). Son Two, who was the violist disguised as Captain Vegetable, is now Doctor Captain Vegetable, having secured his PhD in biophysics a few years back. He travels internationally, helping researchers use highly technical equipment to advance protein science. And he and his lovely wife are raising four children in their home just outside of Colle...

  PART 8: The Six Young Ladies in the Middle Young Adult Mennonite Group Attends  Farmington Chautauqua, August 1910 By Elizabeth Hervey Osborn Part 1  --   Part 2  --  Part 3  --  Part 4  --  Part 5  --  Part 6  -- Part 7 -- Part 8 The youngest attendees were the four close friends clustered at the center of the middle row. With two older ladies at the ends of their row, it is almost as though their older cousins were protectively surrounding them.   In this last installment, I present here a closer look at their remarkable lives. Dora Katherine Krebill 1886-1972 (4HB, FamilySearch K4GQ-QK4. Find-a-Grave 1160127272) Twenty-three year old Dora was Walter’s older sister, born to Joseph Krebill and Selma Magdalena Weber in 1886 near Donnellson Iowa.  Marriage would not be in Dora's future, but family was everything to her. For decades she helped organize and gather her Krebill cousins - descendants o...

  PART 7: The Young Men on the Front Row Young Adult Mennonite Group Attends  Farmington Chautauqua, August 1910 By Elizabeth Hervey Osborn Part 1  --   Part 2  --  Part 3  --  Part 4  --  Part 5  -- Part 6 -- Part 7 -- Part 8 Our Unknown Scribe  skipped to the front row next, where all seven men in the group sat on the grass. The forecast included rain that day; I wonder if the seat of their trousers was damp when they rose? Just a few years after this photo was taken, these men who honored their religious heritage and German-speaking community would find their worldview turned upside down and questioned as the United States entered the Great War against Germany.   Pacifism, or "non-resistance" -- that is, taking Christ's command to "turn the other cheek" with deepest reverence -- from the beginning has been a defining tenet of Mennonite belief. This unshakeable faith was the reason that their ancestors for cent...

  PART 6: The Young Ladies in the Back Young Adult Mennonite Group Attends  Farmington Chautauqua, August 1910 By Elizabeth Hervey Osborn Part 1  --   Part 2  --  Part 3  --  Part 4  -- Part 5 -- Part 6 -- Part 7 -- Part 8 The next three parts highlight each of the nineteen young people in turn, with a close-up [1] from the photograph and some basic information about their lives, and perhaps another photo or newspaper clipping for some event. If you knew these young people, or if you have additional information about their lives, please feel free to share in the comment section. In parentheses after each name are found identification numbers from publicly available genealogical resources. The first number given is the  identifier from Altleiningen Krebills  [2], as the vast majority of this group is listed in or married to someone listed in that book. Next, where appropriate, is the GRanDMA [3] ID number for the person. Famil...