1929 was a momentous year for the Anton H. Tapper, Sr. household. A year that started with such bright promise and much excitement for the younger members of the household.

In June, sons Roland and Anton graduated from Culver Military Academy, located in Culver, Marshall, Indiana, on Wednesday, June 5th, 1929. Both Roland and his brother were members of the Culver Legion and the prestigious Black Horse Troop, with Roland receiving an honorable discharge as a 2nd Lieutenant from the troop. The whole Tapper family, along with “…Miss Verna Grey [sic]…attended the commencement exercises.”¹

Two days later, Anton went to the clerk’s office of the U.S. District Court in Hammond, Lake, Indiana, and applied for passports for himself, his sons, Anton and Roland, and his daughter, Alice.² They were going to spend the summer in Europe!

Anton’s wife, Louise, was not able to make the trip as she was the primary caregiver for her granddaughter. 16-month-old Gwendolyn Warber’s mother, Gretje Tapper Warber had tragically died of an embolism at age 27, on 25 Mar 1928, one month after her baby was born.³ At this time, Anton and Louise had taken the baby into their home to raise as their own. Helping her family prepare for this trip had to be bittersweet for Louise, as it was only four years before, in 1925, that she and her daughter, Gretje, spent the summer in Germany. Their eldest son, Norman, was also staying home as he was married and had two young sons.

The preparations complete, on Friday, June 28th, the family loaded the car with their luggage, and set out on the to drive to New York City⁴ in anticipation of their ships departure on Saturday, July 6th.⁵ Nothing is known as to how long it took to drive to New York or where they stayed upon their arrival. 

We do know that they set sail aboard the S.S. Veendam, heading for Rotterdam, Holland. The ship arrived in Holland on Monday, July 15th, after a nine-day journey.⁶

Anton celebrated his 22nd birthday on July 24th, most likely while traveling in  England.

On July 27th, The Lake County Times published a report sent by Anton Jr., where he writes that “his trip to Europe has been fine and they are enjoying the sights.” The last report from the family, they were “enjoying the sights of Plymouth Devon, England.”⁷

Roland celebrated his 20th birthday on August 1st, somewhere in Europe as sadly, no reports appear in the newspaper during the month of August, but the next report dated September 4th took place during the month.

The Lake County Times’ report is a good one and bears the sub-heading: “Tapper Boys Climb Snow Covered Mountain in Switzerland.” 

“Word has recently come from Interlaken, Switzerland from a reader of The Times, of an interesting day which Anton Tapper, his sons, Roland and Anton and his daughter, Alice, enjoyed in Switzerland, one of the countries they have been visiting on the continent during their stay abroad.

 The Tappers were said to be up on the Jungfrau, Switzerland’s highest mountain. From there the Tapper boys took a guide and climbed one of the neighboring peaks, while Mr. Tapper, Senior, and his daughter watched them through a telescope as they made their way over the rocks and snow of the Mathildaspital, which is 3,560 meters high.

The descent was a hazardous one for the course took the boys over dangerously slippery rocks. Both young travelers are said to have declared the mountain climb the real thrill of their lives. They both seemed relieved to return to solid ground.”⁸

As they made their way from Switzerland back to Holland for the return home, they stopped in Germany, in the Black Forest.

They set sail on Wednesday, September 4th, from Rotterdam, Holland, aboard the S.S. Volendam. Later that day the ship picked up additional passengers in Southampton, and Boulogne-Sur-Mer, before heading on to New York, and arriving in New York Harbor on Friday, September 13th. 

The passenger list was manifested,⁹ and they were recorded as: 

• No. 10, Anton H. Tapper, age 61, Male, Married, If Naturalized: Citizen by Father’s Papers, Address: 616 Ann str, Hammond, Ind.
• No. 11, Anton H. Tapper, age 22, Male, Single, Native of U.S., b. 24th July 1907, Hammond, Ind.
• No. 12, Roland Tapper, age 20, Male, Single, Native of U.S., b. 1st Aug 1909, Hammond, Ind.
• No. 13, Alice Tapper, age 17, Female, Single, Native of U.S., b. 26th Sep 1912, Hammond, Ind.

Not knowing what time the ship arrived in the harbor, we do know it would have taken time for them to disembark, retrieve their luggage, wait for the car to be taken to shore, and finally be ready to head home. They must have been eager to return to Hammond, as they made good time, arriving in Hammond on Sunday evening, September 15th.¹⁰

Ten days later, Alice would celebrate her 18th birthday at home in Hammond.

The family was not allowed to end 1929 on this high note, as on 8 Nov 1929, Louise entered St. Margaret’s Hospital in Hammond to have her appendix removed. She passed away, at the age of 49, on Friday, November 29th. The newspaper report of her death states that “She [had] stood the operation well but physicians were concerned over a blood clot which had formed, threatening a condition similar to that which had resulted in the death of Mrs. Gretje Warber, daughter of the Tappers about a year ago. However she had shown a marked improvement in the last week.” The whole family had been gathered in her hospital room that night, discussing plans for her return home in the next day or so. Leaving at 9:00 p.m., they went home looking forward to bringing her home. She passed away just a short while later at 10:46 p.m., “as an unabsorbed portion of the blood clot was carried to her brain.”¹¹

I just can’t imagine the grief, the loss. After her death, Anton pasted this small piece of paper onto the glass of a framed image of Louise, which says: “‘I Put All the Girls in the World in a Row and Picked Your Mother'”

Why am I writing this story now? I have been slowly attacking the vast amount of family heirlooms that need to be recorded so that my children will have some understanding of what is junk and what is special. Then it will up to them to decide what to keep, and what to toss. Items purchased on this trip have long been part of my family life. Purchased in the Black Forest region of Germany are two music boxes, one a bowl that my mother always used for nuts for cracking at Christmas, and another square box that was given to me so many years ago, I have no memory of NOT owning it.  Other pieces purchased in the Black Forest piece are a trick Vesta match safe and a Cuckoo clock that Roland purchased as a gift for Verna Gray. 

One piece that I would like to share here is a framed piece of Edelweiss, “Picked on Jungfau Mt.” 

1. “College News,” About Our Young People, The Lake County Times, 7 Jun 1929, Friday, p. 24, col. 5; digital images, Newspapers.com(www.newspapers.com : accessed 7 Aug 2017). ↩︎
2. “Did You Hear That,” The Lake County Times, 8 Jun 1929, Saturday, p. 15, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com(www.newspapers.com : accessed 1 Mar 2024). ↩︎
3. Indiana Archives and Records Administration, “Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017,” database and images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015, Ancestry.com (ancestry.com ; accessed 19 Aug 2019), Lake County, 1928, Registered no. 140 (penned), no. 8107 (stamped), Gretje Sophia Warber; citing Indiana State Board of Health. Death Certificates, 1900-2011. Microfilm, Indianapolis, Indiana. ↩︎
4. “Personals,” The Lake County Times, 28 Jun 1929, Friday, p. 24, col.3; digital images, Newspapers.com(www.newspapers.com : accessed 1 Mar 2024). ↩︎
5. “College News,” Friday, p. 24, col. 5. ↩︎
6. “Personals,” The Lake County Times, 15 Jul 1929, Monday, p. 10, col.4; digital images, Newspapers.com(www.newspapers.com : accessed 1 Mar 2024). ↩︎
7. “Did You Hear That,” The Lake County Times, 27 Jul 1929, Saturday, p. 1, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com(www.newspapers.com : accessed 1 Mar 2024). ↩︎
8. “Hammondites Have Thrill in Europe,” The Lake County Times, 4 Sep 1929, Wednesday, p. 10, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com(www.newspapers.com : accessed 7 Aug 2017). ↩︎
9. National Archives, “New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957,” database and images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 2010, Ancestry.com(www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Aug 2018), 13 Sep 1929, S.S. Volendam, p. 1 (penned), p. 40 (stamped), e74, No. 10-13, Tapper Family; citing The National Archives at Washington, D.C. ↩︎
10. “Personals,” The Lake County Times, 16 Sep 1929, Monday, p. 17, col. 6; digital images, Newspapers.com(www.newspapers.com : accessed 1 Mar 2024). ↩︎
11. “Mrs. Tapper Dies from Embolism,” The Lake County Times, 30 Nov 1929, Saturday, p. 1, col. 6; Hammond Public Library Microfilm Collection. ↩︎