"Lysbeth"
by Thelma Wendel Kerkman

Get to know Lysbeth and Thelma

Lysbeth Damen Koenig was an ancestor who came from Wel, Netherlands to New York on a ship called "The Spotted Cow" with her husband and four children in 1663. She was the grandmother of Hannah Lamb who married John Galloway from Scotland in Manhattan, NY on October 7, 1727. They had eleven children. One of their descendants, Hiram Galloway, came to Iowa to buy land for $1.25 per acre in 1854.
Hiram Galloway married Anotnia Hiersche from Bohemia. They had six children. One was my grandmother, Annie Galloway Wendel who lived in the house where I now live. Her husband went blind from a tumor in his brain. Annie raised five children and lived to be 91 years old. She helped her three sons do the field work on the farm. She also raised chickens,
ducks, and geese.
She had fifteen Grandchildren that she embroidered pillow cases for and gave each one a "Happy Day Griddle" when they got married.
The woman in my family have always lived on farms. We are educated to be teachers or nurses. I was a teacher when I was young. I have three children and
four grandchildren.
I moved back to this house in Iowa where I grew up ten years ago. I belong to fourteen clubs and I usually am the secretary, historian, or president. I enjoy gardening, quilting, knitting and sewing dolls.
I have used this pattern to make dolls of my ancestors based to the country from which they came. The dolls are dressed in clothing representing their country according to a folk costume book.