Michael's Home in White

My mom, sister, and I lived on Grandma and Papa's farm, Michael's Home, from the time I was about 4 until I was 12. I loved those years at the Null homestead just north of Taneytown. I'll write much more about the farm in another post, but here are a few pictures that my aunt Susie found when looking through Grandma's photos. We don't know who the photographer(s) was.

Susie thinks this was taken in the very late 1800s. That's Michael's Home at the top of the hill. Many a Null grew up there. I love that shot of the horse-drawn sled in action!
This one appears to have been taken in the 1940s or 1950s. Notice the Taneytown water towers in the background, south of the farm.

Uncle Ed believes this one was taken in the 1950s or 60s. Its vantage point is situated where there is now the Meadow -something or other development. That's the main barn with the silo, the small dairy house in the middle, and the horse barn on the left.

Zeppy Snow

My great-grandmother's brothers were a little odd (see pic below); Clifton and LaVerne Zepp were both artists -- photographers and painters -- and they lived together in Taneytown in a big yellow house on Mill Avenue until they died. For a long while their mother Lizzie lived with them too and at some point their grandmother also. I'm not sure if the house was originally one of their parents'; I'll have to research that a bit more.
The house is now apparently owned by Antrim 1844, a fact I discovered this week when I was looking through their website to prepare for a stay there in February after the 2nd Annual Tanner's Touch Valentine's Day Gala. As I was looking at their rooms, I happened upon The Zepp House, which according to the map, must be their former house.

Both brothers were painters -- I believe they favored oil -- I clearly have more research to do in that area. But I remember that I was so proud that my elementary school had a huge purple and pink colored mural of a pond and swan scene in a stairwell that one of them had painted. I can't imagine it's there any longer. But our family does have many of their paintings -- most of them are Impressionistic in style of farm and woods scenes. I remember at least one of Antrim and another of Crouse Mill. I'll post photos of those in another post with more details about them. But today I'll share two photo slides of theirs; I'm not sure which took them. The first is of Antrim, likely from their house, in the snow.The second is of an unknown creek, I'm sure in the Taneytown area.My grandmother, their sister Gladys, also produced hundreds of photo slides -- I have many of them in my basement. Her favorite theme was clouds.

The siblings got their talents honestly; on the 1900 census, their father Edward Peter Zepp describes his occupation as "artist." He had a professional photography studio above the square in Taneytown. He was also a local band leader and music teacher.

Ancestry: Beth-Judy-Charlie Null-Gladys-Edward Zepp

Hubert & Gladys

Today is the 84th wedding anniversary of my maternal great-grandparents, Hubert & Gladys Null. When I was a child, we celebrated New Year's Day by celebrating their anniversary, usually in a building on the Taneytown carnival grounds with a big potluck meal and entertainment provided by singing grandchildren (myself included).
I remember Papa (pronounced Pup-pa) and Grandma as a little old loving couple, but in their younger years they were a vibrant, strong farming pair.
Hubert grew up on his father's family farm -- Michael's Home -- and raised his family of four children there with Gladys. Hubert was a faithful man who dutifully contributed to Trinity Lutheran Church in Taneytown throughout his life. Gladys carried out her family's artistic gene (her father was the town's professional photographer and her brothers were both professional painters) by taking many photographs (especially of clouds) and playing the piano.
Both are remembered for their generosity and devotion to each other and their family.

Kind of a White Christmas

This photo was taken on Dec. 20 during the Blizzard of 2009 -- we got nearly 2 feet out of it and 3 days off school, which meant that Sylvie's Christmas break started very early and we'll end up with 17 days straight of no school!

Christmas was a great one this year -- because of the blizzard, we missed our Ziegler Christmas at Lisa's, but we're rescheduling for this weekend. The Fuhrmans and Haskinses came here for Christmas Eve, and we all went back to the farm in Taneytown for our Null Christmas this year. It was wonderful to be back "home."

The lower photo is of my kids and Lisa's at Michael's Home, our family farm in Taneytown, MD. There was definitely leftover snow from the blizzard on Christmas morning, but the rain of the day and the rain and wind of that night made for a muddy, virtually snowless day on the 26th.