My great-grandmother, Susanna Marti, came to this country from Switzerland with her parents and siblings in 1873 when she was nine years old. In 1885 she married my great-grandfather, Charles Plau, the son of a German immigrant. The Plau family owned a farm in Middleburg Township, Ohio. (That land is now a suburban housing development.)
I have a number of items which belonged to Susanna, including a dinner bell, more than 100 years old, which she used on the farm.
Every New Year's Eve, I open the front door of my house, and at the stroke of midnight, I ring my great-grandmother's bell.
I wonder if the neighbors think, "Who the heck is ringing that bell?"
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