Hazel May Hill, my grandmother, was the third of the five children born to Ephraim William Hill and Ella Lillian Calkins. She was born on 5 September 1896 in the log house that her father built in Blackman Township, Jackson County, Michigan.
When Hazel was 20 years old, she married 22-year-old Joseph Peter Messner, who was the son of John Joseph Messner & Mathilda Missler. They were married on 17 June 1917 in Jackson, Michigan.
To this union were born 3 children:
Esther Lena ~ 1918-2001
Walter John ~ 1919-1980
Phillip Richard ~ 1924-1975
Grandpa Joe, like his father, started his married life as a farmer. He later became a factory worker.
The marriage ended in divorce in about 1930-1931, with the children split between the two: Esther, my mother, stayed with her mother, while her brothers lived with their father and his parents. By this time, Grandma Hazel had another baby son, Clifford Eugene Messner ~ 1931-2005, who also lived with his mother and his big sister. Hazel never remarried.
She did beautiful crochet work, often blending pastels with vibrant colors. She also enjoyed quilting, and sewing baby clothes. I still have a little pink dress that she crocheted for me when I was a toddler. Mom remembered her baking delicious breads of all sorts.
In around the mid to late 1930's, during the grip of the Great Depression, Grandma Hazel, Mom, Uncle Clifford, and Hazel's sister, Agnes Wheeler joined with a communal group called The Direct Credits Society, which was popular at the time in Michigan. They were with that group for a few years before it disbanded.
Hazel was a practitioner of homeopathic medicine, believing in preventive & natural cures.
My mother recalled what a loving and giving person Grandmother was, and, surely, that is where my mother learned to be such a tender and loving parent.
Mom left Michigan in the early 1940's, and caravanned to California with friends. She only saw her mother twice more before she died. She traveled back by train to introduce her to her 2 grandchildren (my brother & me) in 1950. In 1955, when Grandma Hazel was dying, Mom traveled back to introduce her to her newest granddaughter, my sister, Glenda.
Grandma Hazel died on 28 October 1955 at the age of 59. Her former husband, my Grandfather, Joseph, died 9 days earlier at the age of 60
One of her favorite poems was:
Trees, by Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
When Hazel was 20 years old, she married 22-year-old Joseph Peter Messner, who was the son of John Joseph Messner & Mathilda Missler. They were married on 17 June 1917 in Jackson, Michigan.
To this union were born 3 children:
Esther Lena ~ 1918-2001
Walter John ~ 1919-1980
Phillip Richard ~ 1924-1975
Grandpa Joe, like his father, started his married life as a farmer. He later became a factory worker.
The marriage ended in divorce in about 1930-1931, with the children split between the two: Esther, my mother, stayed with her mother, while her brothers lived with their father and his parents. By this time, Grandma Hazel had another baby son, Clifford Eugene Messner ~ 1931-2005, who also lived with his mother and his big sister. Hazel never remarried.
She did beautiful crochet work, often blending pastels with vibrant colors. She also enjoyed quilting, and sewing baby clothes. I still have a little pink dress that she crocheted for me when I was a toddler. Mom remembered her baking delicious breads of all sorts.
In around the mid to late 1930's, during the grip of the Great Depression, Grandma Hazel, Mom, Uncle Clifford, and Hazel's sister, Agnes Wheeler joined with a communal group called The Direct Credits Society, which was popular at the time in Michigan. They were with that group for a few years before it disbanded.
Hazel was a practitioner of homeopathic medicine, believing in preventive & natural cures.
My mother recalled what a loving and giving person Grandmother was, and, surely, that is where my mother learned to be such a tender and loving parent.
Mom left Michigan in the early 1940's, and caravanned to California with friends. She only saw her mother twice more before she died. She traveled back by train to introduce her to her 2 grandchildren (my brother & me) in 1950. In 1955, when Grandma Hazel was dying, Mom traveled back to introduce her to her newest granddaughter, my sister, Glenda.
Grandma Hazel died on 28 October 1955 at the age of 59. Her former husband, my Grandfather, Joseph, died 9 days earlier at the age of 60
One of her favorite poems was:
Trees, by Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Hazel May Hill, my grandmother, was the third of the five children born to Ephraim William Hill and Ella Lillian Calkins. She was born on 5 September 1896 in the log house that her father built in Blackman Township, Jackson County, Michigan.
When Hazel was 20 years old, she married 22-year-old Joseph Peter Messner, who was the son of John Joseph Messner & Mathilda Missler. They were married on 17 June 1917 in Jackson, Michigan.
To this union were born 3 children:
Esther Lena ~ 1918-2001
Walter John ~ 1919-1980
Phillip Richard ~ 1924-1975
Grandpa Joe, like his father, started his married life as a farmer. He later became a factory worker.
The marriage ended in divorce in about 1930-1931, with the children split between the two: Esther, my mother, stayed with her mother, while her brothers lived with their father and his parents. By this time, Grandma Hazel had another baby son, Clifford Eugene Messner ~ 1931-2005, who also lived with his mother and his big sister. Hazel never remarried.
She did beautiful crochet work, often blending pastels with vibrant colors. She also enjoyed quilting, and sewing baby clothes. I still have a little pink dress that she crocheted for me when I was a toddler. Mom remembered her baking delicious breads of all sorts.
In around the mid to late 1930's, during the grip of the Great Depression, Grandma Hazel, Mom, Uncle Clifford, and Hazel's sister, Agnes Wheeler joined with a communal group called The Direct Credits Society, which was popular at the time in Michigan. They were with that group for a few years before it disbanded.
Hazel was a practitioner of homeopathic medicine, believing in preventive & natural cures.
My mother recalled what a loving and giving person Grandmother was, and, surely, that is where my mother learned to be such a tender and loving parent.
Mom left Michigan in the early 1940's, and caravanned to California with friends. She only saw her mother twice more before she died. She traveled back by train to introduce her to her 2 grandchildren (my brother & me) in 1950. In 1955, when Grandma Hazel was dying, Mom traveled back to introduce her to her newest granddaughter, my sister, Glenda.
Grandma Hazel died on 28 October 1955 at the age of 59. Her former husband, my Grandfather, Joseph, died 9 days earlier at the age of 60
One of her favorite poems was:
Trees, by Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
When Hazel was 20 years old, she married 22-year-old Joseph Peter Messner, who was the son of John Joseph Messner & Mathilda Missler. They were married on 17 June 1917 in Jackson, Michigan.
To this union were born 3 children:
Esther Lena ~ 1918-2001
Walter John ~ 1919-1980
Phillip Richard ~ 1924-1975
Grandpa Joe, like his father, started his married life as a farmer. He later became a factory worker.
The marriage ended in divorce in about 1930-1931, with the children split between the two: Esther, my mother, stayed with her mother, while her brothers lived with their father and his parents. By this time, Grandma Hazel had another baby son, Clifford Eugene Messner ~ 1931-2005, who also lived with his mother and his big sister. Hazel never remarried.
She did beautiful crochet work, often blending pastels with vibrant colors. She also enjoyed quilting, and sewing baby clothes. I still have a little pink dress that she crocheted for me when I was a toddler. Mom remembered her baking delicious breads of all sorts.
In around the mid to late 1930's, during the grip of the Great Depression, Grandma Hazel, Mom, Uncle Clifford, and Hazel's sister, Agnes Wheeler joined with a communal group called The Direct Credits Society, which was popular at the time in Michigan. They were with that group for a few years before it disbanded.
Hazel was a practitioner of homeopathic medicine, believing in preventive & natural cures.
My mother recalled what a loving and giving person Grandmother was, and, surely, that is where my mother learned to be such a tender and loving parent.
Mom left Michigan in the early 1940's, and caravanned to California with friends. She only saw her mother twice more before she died. She traveled back by train to introduce her to her 2 grandchildren (my brother & me) in 1950. In 1955, when Grandma Hazel was dying, Mom traveled back to introduce her to her newest granddaughter, my sister, Glenda.
Grandma Hazel died on 28 October 1955 at the age of 59. Her former husband, my Grandfather, Joseph, died 9 days earlier at the age of 60
One of her favorite poems was:
Trees, by Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
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MOTHER
HAZEL M HILL
1896 - 1955
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