Theodore H. Hoss

The final entry in the Reeves Family Album is the funeral card for Jennie's father-in-law.

Theodor Hubert Hoss, my great-great grandfather was born in Ahrweiler, Germany Sept. 22, 1824 (he and Jennie shared birthdays!). Catholic Church records indicate the Hoss family had lived in that town for several generations.

The story is passed down that Theodore was the son of a vineyard master and came to the area of Cassville, Wisconsin in 1854 to avoid the Prussian military conscription. However he was drafted into the Union Army during the Civil War, where he mostly served guard duty in the South. His only military exploit, we are told, was that shot a pig while on sentry duty.

After the War the family tried making a living in Northeast Nebraska but after locusts destroyed their crops, they headed to Washington Territory in the mid-1870s.

Theodore attempted to grow a vineyard in the area of present day Vader, Washington but the climate was not grape friendly. By the 1880s he joined his sons in the booming new town of Centralia, Washington, where he made a living in woodworking, mostly as a cooper.

Those who knew him told me he was gentle soul who maintained a thick German accent throughout his life. The only time anyone saw him get excited or angry was when he discussed politics with another German relative, August Amler. The two would shout and yell, but since the conversation was in German, no one knew exactly what the topic was about!

He died in Centralia Jan. 28, 1908 and is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery.

This concludes the album. To see the entire collection, simply use the Reeves Family Album tag.

Ku Klux Klan - Ancestor of the Tea Baggers?

Dear readers:

My jaw dropped when I ran across this incredible front page article in the Oct. 27, 1922 issue of The Walla Walla Valley Spectator, where the Ku Klux Klan is treated as if they were like the local garden club. And we're not talking about the Deep South here, this is in Prescott, Washington. Yes, good ol' Blue State progressive Washington that has legalized pot and Gay marriage and has never voted for a Bush for President.

What really struck me as I read through this was how much the Klan spokesman sounded like one of today's Tea Party proponents.

I love Eastern Washington. I was born there. My most prolific period as a cartoonist took place there in the 1980s. It sickens me that it also has a strong element of fear-based people willing to swallow the nonsense of the Klan, "Neo" Nazis, and Tea Baggers, all birds of a feather in my thinking.

Perhaps that good, patriotic, pious Christian, that man who spreads the word of God, the Rev. Burger, was really from the Church of the Nazirene.

Yours,
A Member of the "Adverse Element."

Phone photo 2273

Buster contemplates my battered 40-year old paperback dictionary, wondering if the word "Catholic" is pronounced "Cat-holic," which he interprets to be a cat-crazy religious corporation full of people addicted to domestic felines. And as such he expects all those old men in Vatican City will finally give the world Pope Buster! As you can see, he is striking a dramatic pose exuding leadership and grace. Frankly, I think they should appoint him.