Panhandler - for word lovers.

I have discovered that the origin of the term "panhandler" is not what the dictionary tells you.

It's actually a San Francisco term from the Gold Rush days. The term was tied to restaurant-owner Mink Dusenhoffer, who used the term in an angry public notice, warning them to stay away.

The original Panhandlers were unemployed men who had sought their fortune by panning for gold, but resorted to begging or worse when their fortunes were not found.

The origins of the word Panhandler is detailed in the book, American Myths and Legends Volume II, by Charles M. Skinner, J.B. Lipincott Company, Philadelphia & London, pub. Oct 1903. //// My personal interest in this word. My great great grandfather Josef Waizmann (born ca. 1803) was born in Pfannenstiel, near Aalen Germany, in present-day Baden-Wuerttemberg. Pfannenstiel means "panhandle" in English. The people in this village were populated by Yenish / Jenisch, a poor and unassimilated nomadic people with a reputation for thieving and begging. Later, Nazi German leadership compared them to gypsies. So, I when I had read of Mink Dusenhoffer, a German-American warning off "the panhandlers" in San Francisco, I thought there might be a connection, but that does not seem to be the case. Back in Germany, "Pfannestiel" refers to the local geographic area; it has no connection with the 1849 Gold Rush in San Fracisco.

Hauenstein Genealogy Breakthrough!

History and cousins!

My grandmother, Elizabeth Hauenstein, was only 17 when her parents died at ages 50 and 53. Among the four children, she was the only one to have a child - my dad - with children of his own. There were no cousins. Pretty much all we knew about Dad's Hauenstein grandparents was that they came from Switzerland, a couple stories and that they were poor.

Modern technology created breakthroughs.

First occured with a DNA test which matched me with a Hauenstein cousin in Switzerland. Her mom knew about us, and gave the name of the home town

The second thing was a hunch. I matched up the Hauenstein family name with the Swiss town name along with the words "Indiana" and "Ohio. " That's when I learned that other Hauensteins from that town had settled in this area.

The third thing I found was that the historic 1864 "Hauenstein Cider press" is located in Berne Indiana. It's the largest in the world, and only a 90-minute drive from Dayton.

I drove over to see it and experience Berne's Swiss Heritage Festival.

This was unexpected:

1) the 1864 Hauenstein apple cider press in operation for that day only! It was making cider for the festival.

2) Hauenstein family operating the press!

===> After decades of searching, I met my Hauenstein cousins, with an invitation to next year's family re-union!

Photos

1. The crest/symbol of the Aargau, the Swiss Canton (State) ancestral home of the Hauenstein family

2. Swiss Flag Berne, Indiana

3. "Command Central" of Swiss Heritage Days - little white house on the Swiss Heritage Museum grounds

4. Sign for the Hauenstein Cider Press - the world's largest

5. Squared off oak timber

6. world’s largest corkscrew

7. spare corkscrew, just in case

8. apples ready

9. more apples

10. interior view with wheatstraw

11. Hauenstein family at work

12. Decanting the cider

13. transferring apples

14. transferring apple squeezings

15. Coolest T-shirt of the day