ELLA TUTOR, FLORENCE SULLIVAN, JULIA HOGAN

Dr. Dan Sullivan sent this interesting photograph of (l to r) Florence Sullivan, Julia Fecht Hogan, and Ella Tutor. Both Florence and Julia were Iowa residents and lived on subsistence farms. Ella, I believe lived in Saint Louis, and being atop a hay stack would likely been an adventure. The date of the photograph is unknown.
Only vague references in my records of our family refer to Ella Tutor. It is likely that she was niece of Elizabeth Ann Walsh Fecht. There were probably relatives of Patrick Walsh and his first wife Ann Finn in Saint Louis.

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY

For some reason this snapshot of my Dad's brothers and sister made me very lonesome. I guess, it is the informality of the image and how very much they were, as they are in my memory. It probably didn't help that the public television station in the background was playing sentimental Irish music.
L to R:
Francis (Frank), Lawrence (Uncle Buckie), William (Bill) and Julia (Fecht) Hogan.
Being "Irish" was an important part of being members of the family of Elizabeth Ann (Walsh) and William Charles Fecht. Although these folks were half Alsatian and half Irish, it was the Irish part that seemed to matter. This was no doubt reinforced by the Catholic priests at Saint Brendan Church in Mexico, Missouri, who were Irish. When I was a little boy, I thought God spoke Latin with an Irish accent.
On March 17th, there was a huge corned beef and cabbage dinner at the Saint Brendan church hall. Boiled potatoes, greasy corned beef, over-boiled cabbage (actually my mother Mildred over-boiled nearly everything.) Uncle Lawrence (Buckie) always prepared an elaborate practical joke. My dad smuggled in Irish whisky (not Bushmills, but real Irish whisky Jamesons.) Aunt Effie would bring parsnips and horseradish. Aunt Lena baked Irish soda bread. AND, most important! We got the day off from school, and the Lent abstinence from meat was suspended. Two days later, on the feast of Saint Joseph we had another school holiday. On the day between, the nuns took us to a nearby part to run around. They were smart enough to know that they wouldn't accomplish anything on March 18th.
My dad, Bill Fecht and my sister Genevieve would do Irish jigs after dinner. Aunt Meg (Margaret Fecht) and Uncle Gene Sullivan would dance the shoddish on Patty's night.
My wife Janne and I had big St. Patrick's Day parties for a long time, but since it comes right in the middle of tax season (Janne is a CPA) we look for a saint's day in late April to celebrate.

LEONA CRITES COMES TO VISIT

Family of Bill and Mildred Fecht.
top row L to R
Bill Fecht, Hugh Hogan Jimmie Fecht (little boy) and Leona Belle Weaver Crites (seated on porch railing)
Mildred Fecht, Julia Hogan and Dorothy Fecht
It was quite an adjustment for Leona Crites to get used to the Fecht family. Though she had been born into a Lutheran Christian family, she became a member of the Church of the Brethren (Dunkers) and generally uncomfortable around Catholic adults. Her grandchildren however mellowed her and she grew more accepting of the different form of Christianity that her daughter had chosen. She never accepted the racial prejudices expressed by her daughter's Missouri inlaws.

WEDDING OF JULIA FECHT AND HUGH HOGAN

Left to Right
Beatrice Fecht, Hugh Hogan, Julia Fecht Hogan, Vincent Hogan.
Little boy on the porch is James L. (Jimmie) Fecht and his grandfather William Charles Fecht, Julia's father.

JULIA FECHT HOGAN

The youngest girl of the Family of Elizabeth Ann (Walsh) and William Charles Fecht, Julia was loved intensely by her brothers and sisters. She was a fragile child, "full of Irish mischief and adventure." As a young adult, Julia became a telephone operator, a very sophisticated job in her time. She and her cousin Beatrice Fecht were considered among the "belles" of Mexico, Missouri.
Julia married an Iowa farmer Hugh Hogan. They had no children.

JULIA FECHT HOGAN

Julia Fecht Hogan on her farm in Villisca, Iowa. Julia was born in Mexico, Missouri. She married a successful farmer, Hugh Hogan. They had no children. She is buried in Villisca.

Hugh Hogan
Photos # 27 and 28

IOWA FAMILY

The date of this family photograph is unknown. A clue might come from the age of the youngest child Daniel (Maurice) Sullivan which would probably mean that it was taken in the 1940s.
Left to right:
(top) Helen Doris Sullivan
(middle) Patricia Sullivan, Julia Fecht Hogan, Daniel (Maurice) Sullivan, Hugh Hogan
(front) Elizabeth (called Betty)

Note the screen door construction and the horse shoe tacked on the house.

FAMILY PHOTOGRAPH - OMAHA, NEBRASKA 1951

Fecht Apartment on 9th Street, Omaha Nebraska 1951

Left to Right
Florence and Dan Sullivan, Mildred and Bill Fecht, Hugh Hogan
Genevieve Rebbe, Patricia Sullivan Chapasco, Julia Hogan, Bernard Sullivan
Charlotte and Danny Chapasco

This photograph was taken at the time of the Korean War.