Religious Traditions

        When I was growing up, our aunts and uncles from Philadelphia area would always get together for Thanksgiving, either at our home in NJ or at my grandparents in Atlantic City. And after our Thanksgiving meal, we all would join around the piano and sing Christmas carols. It was such a special time. And what reinforces those memories is the fact that our dad recorded these songfests on his reel-to-reel tape recorder. Well, these 70 year old tapes survived, and now have been digitized and shared, so we can listen to them anytime. I still can hear Uncle Cliff’s soaring tenor voice, and my Poppop Wilbur playing the piano. Those are some of the sweetest memories of Christmas Carols and a religious tradition I have.

Just to illustrate - Poppop knew all the songs - no sheet music needed 

My maternal grandfather, C. Wilbur Harley (Poppop) has roots that go back many generations (to the early 1700’s) in the Mennonite and Brethren communities in southeast Pennsylvania. Wilbur himself studied music and the organ, and played the organ at his parents’ (Dunkard) First Church of the Brethren in Philadelphia. And he continued to be a church organist most of his life. 

"Poppop" C. Wilbur Harley late 1930's or early 1940's

“Dunkard” I believe was kind of a nickname given to this religious group, because they practiced full body baptism when the person became of age. They were  the Church of the Brethren, similar to the Mennonites, from the Anabaptist foundation, but have slightly different beliefs.

    Wilbur's name mentioned many times in this 600 page book, along with his parents and more, showing he was an organist in the First Church of the Brethren in Philadelphia. Lots of my family history is documented in this book.

I’ve written about my 6th great grandfather Christopher Sower (Sauer) in one or two other blog posts, with the focus on he and his son Christopher Sower the younger in regard to their printing of the first German language bible in America. There were three editions, from 1743 to 1776.

Music and religious worship have gone hand in hand on both sides of my heritage for many generations, and continue to this day. My grandmother Florence (Wilbur’s wife) sang in the church choir in Margate NJ, and their daughter (our mom) had been a member of church choirs since she was a teen, up to just about 8 years before she passed at age 99. That is amazing to me. She loved to sing. 

Mom and Jim April 2017 - Two great church choir singers!!

My brother Jim has carried on that tradition by singing in his church choirs as well. He has an excellent singing voice. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing him do a solo a few years ago at his church in Athens, AL. 

On my dad’s side, my grandmother Rebecca also had a beautiful singing voice, and loved to sing hymns with her daughter and granddaughter. My cousin and her daughter continue to sing and play piano for many church functions. 

One other tradition wasn’t really a religious one, but it did take place on Christmas morning when we were kids. Our dad always cooked this particular breakfast, which included fried calf brains and scrambled eggs. Not all of us ate that particular dish, but I did, and always enjoyed it.  (No pix of this - but look online if you dare !)