Family Tales

Fredrick William II's stables

The family folklore has it, some of my Hauser ancestors were in the royal guard of a Prussian king - a requirement that these soldiers had to be at least 6' tall. During a work trip to Germany, I was able to take a side excursion by train from Berlin to Potsdam. I was tagging along with a colleague who had an idea about where he was going - me, no clue. As it turned out, Potsdam was the royal capital of Prussia where Frederick William II and his predecessors and successors had lived.

Prussian descendents

 That side of my mom's family emigrated to the United States in the 1800's - her father took over the family homestead east of Lake Winnebago, near the village Hilbert in Calumet County. We took a few vacations to visit my Wisconsin relatives while I was growing up. I only vaguely remember being on the dairy farm before my grandparents retired and moved to town. There was the root cellar/smokehouse in the front yard, the dairy barn, the access door from outside to the basement through which coal or wood could be delivered, and the woods towards the back of the property. Common to these were the warning that I should stay clear of them because that is where the "wolf" lived. I am certain that along with my height, European tales of wolves and children told by my elders were inherited from my Germanic bloodlines.

Root cellar/smoke house

In recent years while on business trips to Wisconsin, I visit my uncle who still lives in Hilbert. In addition to making short pilgrimages to the Catholic cemetery to see my grandparents' grave sites, we drive out into the countryside to see the sights, including going by the old family homestead. The family that bought the dairy has upgraded the amenities, but woods at the back of the property have not regenerated, so have continued to thin. The stonewalled pump house is gone, as well as my uncle, it is likely that there are few suitable places for an old wolf to haunt in waiting for errant children.