I waited for weeks, checking the flower bed daily, looking for the first buds of grape hyacinths. They bloomed last week, the day after our first warm day. These are the old variety...the REALLY old variety. The first ones came from Bavaria with the Graf family and were planted where our family first settled in Indiana, near Waupecong. My Great-grandmother Settie wrote a careful account of the family's emigration and first years of getting settled here in America. She lists the fruits that were planted in the orchard, but she also mentioned the flower bulbs that had been tucked in the freight trunk and planted in their adopted homeland. They were transferred to the farm when Settie and George were married, and have since been divided and planted in the different locations we have settled. Elizabeth was especially fond of them; they were in her garden in Kirkland, MO, then in Overland Park, KS. They now usher in spring and the promise of new life in her memory garden in the grove.
They have taken on a much deeper significance...they are more than historic anecdote, more than a thing of beauty. They are a legacy, unique among all the things that have been passed down through the generations, for they are a living legacy. They were considered important enough to bring as a treasured belonging on their voyage to a new life in this country. We don't really know if it was foresight to provide reminders of the "fatherland" for future generations. But we do know that as we look to them to understand who we are, we are reminded that we also are a living legacy. And our family history is still being written.
Here is an excerpt from Settie's history of the Graf family:
Philip and his parents sold their beloved home and personal effects and prepared to follow the boys. Their nearest route was through France and from the dock at Havre they took ship. Their household effects, clothing, cooking utensils, pewter table service and food, all stored in cedar chests for the long passage. Steamboats had not been invented nor airplanes, so they set sail and selecting the route favored by the trade winds. Unfortunately a storm drove them out of their course and they were six weeks on the ocean, arriving at New York harbor 1853 to be welcomed by friends who had braved the voyage earlier. Then by wagon and canal boat, drawn by mules on the tow path, the party came overland to Waupecong where they found refuge among relatives and joined John, Christian and Valentine who had all found employment.
Now to establish a home and care for the father who was ailing was the next concern. Having paid for their passage, they were able to purchase a farm of forty acres, improved with a hewed log house and a log barn and a well. A formal garden was soon laid out with flower beds planted to tulips and hyacinths which had been stored in the cedar chests.
Next an orchard was planted, as there was no other fruit in Indiana but wild grapes, wild plums and berries. Every foot of soil was planted and tended by hand.
