Week 31: Flew the Coop

 

Lester Eldon Williams

There are two reasons that I chose my maternal grandpa to write about for the prompt "Flew the Coop".  Both will become evident as I tell the story of his life.

Lester was born on 11 Sep 1906 in Rensseleaer, Indiana as the 4th son to Owen and Minnie Williams.  His father was a farmer and a farm tile ditcher.  As Lester grew, so did the Williams family.  By the time he was 13 five sisters had joined the Williams family.  Life wasn't easy in a family that large so by the end of his 8th grade year in school Lester decided he'd had enough education.  What did he do to help the family after quitting school?  Good question.  My guess is that he helped out on the family farm or did other labor to help out at home.

Lester stood 5' 9' tall and had a slight build, weighing about 145 lbs.  His hair was brown and his eyes were blue.  On 15 May 1926 when Lester was 19 he married 16 year-old Irene Eldora Cartwright in St. Joseph County, Indiana.

Why didn't I ever ask how or where they met?  Questions like this drive me crazy because there's no one left to ask.  Neither my mom at 91 nor her 86-year old brother ever remember hearing a story about how their parents met.  It's sad and frustrating.

By the time of the 1930 Census when Lester was 23 and Irene was 20 they lived in Portage Township, St. Joseph County, Indiana on Prairie Street in a rented house.  They didn't have a radio and their monthly rent was $20, or about $320 in today's dollars. Lester was working as a laborer for Mixed Concrete Company.  There was no occupation listed for Irene but I wonder if she did some sort of work outside the home.  I know they had been trying unsuccessfully to start family at this point. 

By 1931 Irene and Lester were considering a private adoption but just before taking the final steps Irene discovered she was pregnant.  On 20 Jun 1932 my mom Peggy Katherine was born.  Sixteen months later their son Walter Owen was born.  Leo Eldon followed in 1938 and Robert Lee in 1941.

And now for the first reason I thought of Grandpa when I saw the words "Flew the Coop".  As the family story goes--related by my mom--one day during the Depression Grandpa was standing on a street corner hoping for work when a man named Earl App drove up.  Earl App owned a poultry market and asked if Grandpa wanted some work.  His answer was yes and with that, a long relationship began. Before the days of large grocery stores, meat and poultry were sold in specialty shops.  In the Mishawaka City Directory of 1937 Lester Williams' occupation was listed as "poultry dresser", which meant he:

Chopped off bird’s head or slit bird’s throat to slaughter bird, using a knife. Hung bird by feet to drain blood. Dipped bird into scalding water to loosen feathers. Held bird against projecting rubber fingers of rotating drum to remove feathers or may have plucked the chickens by hand.  Cut bird open, removed viscera, and washed bird and giblets. 

That had to have been difficult and unpleasant, but it was work when jobs were scarce.  By the 1940 Census Lester's occupation had changed to "poultry buyer".  A 1943 newspaper ad in the South Bend Tribune showed Lester in a management position.  App's Poultry Market by then had three locations and he had been given the responsibility of managing the Bourbon, Indiana store.

The family story--again, related by my mom--is that when Earl App and his wife moved to Michigan in 1945 he sold the Bourbon poultry market to Lester for $1.  Earl and his wife didn't have any heirs and he wanted to show his appreciation to Grandpa for his years of work. 

For the first time in their married life, Lester and Irene were able to buy their own home.  They purchased 456 E. Walnut Street in Nappanee, Indiana.  The house included a one-bedroom apartment that first held Irene's mother and step-father, Martha and Arthur Hartman.  In the 1950 Census the family was recorded as:

The enumerator for this section of Nappanee was Martha Hartman, a resident at 456½ E. Walnut Street, the apartment in Lester and Irene's home.

In 1953 Lester put this ad in the South Bend Tribune:

Times were changing though.  In the later years of the 1950s the poultry market closed.  My guess is that the closure may have happened as specialty shops were giving way to grocery stores that included meat and poultry counters.  After more than twenty years in the poultry business, Lester became a truck driver.

And now for the second reason "flew the coop" seemed to fit.  In the early 1960s Lester and Irene's marriage began to fall apart when Lester was unfaithful. He flew the coop and left the marriage after more than 35 years.  He also began to drink heavily.  Six years after the desertion of his wife and family, sick with emphysema, Lester asked for forgiveness and returned to live with Irene.  As hurt as she was by the divorce and desertion, she had never stopped loving him. For the next seven years Irene took care of him until her heart gave out.  After her death Lester went to live with his younger sister Kate for several years before he went to a nursing home.  He died on 24 Sep 1979 just after his 80th birthday in the Fountainview Nursing Home in Elkhart.

                                                  Grandpa with me in Nappanee about 1954

Week 30: In the News

Matilda Ann Miller Dubbs

Matilda Ann Miller Dubbs, my 2x great-grandmother, wasn't in the news often but I was happy to find this article celebrating her milestone birthday in the South Bend Tribune, dated 28 May 1935:

I would love to have been there as an observer to see the ancestors I know from black and white pictures come to life!

Matilda was born on 26 May 1845 in New Paris, Indiana to John David Miller (1812-1902) and Mary Baker (1812-1855).  She was the fifth of seven children born in the Miller family.  When Matilda was just 9 years old her mother died but she and her siblings weren't motherless for long.  Ten months after Mary's death John David married Margaret Lentz and within a few years Matilda gained three half-siblings.  Was life rosy with her stepmother?  One clue that it may not have been is that by age 15 Matilda left the family to get married.

On Valentine's Day in 1861 Matilda married John Dubbs, a 25-year old farmer from a neighboring township in Elkhart County, Indiana.  Eleven months later in January of 1862 Matilda and John's first child was born.  It must have seemed strange to her that her stepmother had a baby a few months later, making her son and her half-brother the same age.

Matilda and John's children in birth order were:

William Benton  (b. 1862)

Margaret Emeline (b. 1864)

Chloe (b. 1866)

Mary (b.1868)   my great-grandmother

Frank (b. 1872)

Charles (b. 1876)

                                            Matilda's children and their spouses about 1901:

Back row:  Mary Dubbs Scott,  Chloe Dubbs Neff,  Jacob Neff,  Desaline Lentz Dubbs (married to William Benton), William O. Scott (married to Mary Dubbs), Margaret Emiline Dubbs Lentz (married to Moses Lentz)     

(Desaline and Moses Lentz were siblings married  to Dubbs siblings.)

Middle row:  Moses Lentz,  John Dubbs,  Matilda Dubbs, William Benton Dubbs

Front row:  Charles Dubbs (unmarried at this time but later married Maude Beagle),  Frank Dubbs (married to Leora Messner),  Leora Messer Dubbs  

                                                   Matilda's grandchildren that same day:

Back row:  Bertha Neff,  Gladys Neff (daughters of Jacob & Chloe),  Blanche Dubbs (daughter of William & Desaline),  Grace Dubbs (daughter of William & Desaline),  Mary Lentz (daughter of Moses & Emma)

Front row:  Angus Cleon Scott (my grandpa, son of William & Mary Scott),  Georgia Dubbs (daughter of William & Desaline),  Donald Dubbs (son of Frank & Leora),  Pauline Lentz (daughter of Moses & Emma)

My unbiased opinion is that A. C. Scott is the most adorable child in the picture.

On 8 May 1905, not many years after these pictures were taken, Matilda's husband John died of heart disease at the age of 69 years.  For the next eleven years Matilda was a widow but she wouldn't stay that way.  John Dubbs had a brother who was seven years younger.  Emanuel Dubbs was an interesting and well-traveled man who had been a Civil War soldier, a manufacturer, a merchant, a buffalo hunter, a judge, and a minister of the Christian Church was widowed himself in 1911.  After losing his wife he moved from Texas back to Milford, Indiana. One thing led to another, and in 1916 Emanuel married Matilda.  They remained together until Emanuel died in 1932.  At 86 years old, Matilda was a widow again.  The couple must have decided that they would each prefer to be buried next to their first loves because Emanuel is buried next to his first wife in Clarendon, Texas and Matilda is buried next to John.

Emanuel & Matilda c. 1930

Matilda outlived two husbands and two of her children.  Her wildly inaccurate obituary stated that she married Emanuel in 1881 after her husband John died.  Wrong!  John died in 1905 and she didn't marry Emanuel until 1916.  

Matilda died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 6 Feb 1939 when she was 93 years old.  Sadly, her death certificate was full of inaccuracies too.  Both her mother and father were born in the United States, but the death certificate stated that they were born in England and Germany respectively.  It also misstated Matilda's birth year as 1844 instead of 1845.  Those errors can be attributed to her daughter Margaret Lentz who was the informant.

Matilda and John's grave is in the Salem Cemetery outside of Milford in Kosciusko County, Indiana.

Week 29: Random

 

Headstone for John Oldfied Cretcher and Bethiah Jane Neil

Washington Union Township Cemetery

Pierceton, Kosciusko County, Indiana

By taking a close look today at this headstone I found three random pieces of information about a pair of my 3x great-grandparents that had eluded me before.  

Random piece of information #1: 

The birthdate I had been using  for 3xGG John doesn't add up if the information on this headstone is correct. 3xGG John's death date was carved as:

19 Feb 1898    AGED  77Y  2M 20D.

Working backwards from the death date:

19 Feb 1898 - 77 years = 19 Feb 1821

19 Feb 1821 - 2 months = 19 Dec 1820     

19 Dec 1820 - 20 days = 29 Nov 1820

The birthdate I had seen before for 3xGG John was 20 Nov 1820 so I'm off by a little over a week.  Close enough I guess since there is no official birth record.  But it brings up the question of how the number of months and days were calculated by the headstone carver.  I just counted back two calendar months.  Should I instead count back two sets of 30 days or one set of 30 and another of 31?  Is there a common practice for this?

Random piece of information #2:

I had never noticed the symbol on 3xGG John's side of the headstone:  

A Google image search told me that this was the Masonic Square and Compasses, a symbol of Freemasonry.  The square and compass are architect's tools used in Masonic rituals as emblems to teach lessons.  An example would be that Masons should "square thier actions by the square of virtue" and learn to "circumscribe their desires and keep their passions within due bounds toward all mankind."  Like many of our founding fathers, GG John was a Mason.

Random piece of information #3:

Bethiah Jane Neil was probably born in Ohio but I haven't been able to confirm that and haven't found who her parents were.  But today I noticed the carving on her side of the headstone that helped me calculate a possible birthdate for 3xGG Bethiah.

Died Aug 25, 1882    AGED 65Y 21D

Working backwards from the carved death date:

25 Aug 1882 - 65 years = 25 Aug 1817

25 Aug 1817 - 21 days = 4 Aug 1817

Finally, a good approximation of GG Bethiah's birthdate!

More than anything, this is a lesson for me to look carefully, look again, and then look later at the information I thought I knew.  Random clues could be hiding in obvious places.

Week 28: Birthdays

 

My great-grandmother Grace Elizabeth Hess was born 29 Feb 1880 in Syracuse, Indiana to Mary Mellinger and Henry Hess.  Being a leap year baby or "leapling", she was one of a very small percentage of people in the world who could call that day their birthday.  The chances of being born on the 29th day of February are just 1 in 1,461 (less than 0.07%) instead of 1 in 365 for the rest of us with a common birthday.  

Mary Elizabeth Mellinger (1861-1882) and Henry Balser Hess (1857-1930) were married on 16 Sep 1877 in Kosciusko County, Indiana.  In September of 1878 their first child Jacob was born but he died after just sixteen days. Grace Elizabeth was born sixteen months later in February of 1880.  Mary and Henry must have been so happy to have a healthy baby girl join the family.  The happiness lasted a little over two years until Mary passed away on 7 Sep 1882, leaving behind her husband and 2-year old Grace.  I've never found a cause of death for Mary but given the timing of a little over two years since Grace's birth, my suspicion is that Mary and a third child may have both died during a difficult birth.

Where did Grace live in the first years after her mother died?  Did she live with her father or did she live with relatives?  I've never found evidence to say.  What I do know is that on 1 Jan 1888 Henry married Sarah Ann Rensberger (1861-1921).  Several years ago I found a picture of the three children that Henry and Sarah had together.  Grace wasn't included in that family portrait.  When I posed a question about why that was to the Bird Family page on Facebook, Grace's granddaughter Kenlyn replied that when Sarah married Henry she made it clear that she wouldn't raise a child who wasn't her own so Grace had to live elsewhere.  Kenlyn remembered that Grace was raised by an aunt, but didn't know who the aunt was.  That made we wonder if Grace had already been living with the aunt since her mother Mary died. Even though she was rejected by her step-mother, Grace must have spent time with her three step-siblings.  As adults, she kept in regular contact with and spoke fondly of Frank (b. 1889), Charles (b.1891), and Addie (b. 1893).  

On 13 Nov 1898 when she was 18 years old Grace married Charles Orastus Bird (1874-1954) in Milford, Indiana.  Nine months later, my grandma Eva Mae Bird was born.  She was followed by Ethel Elluria (b. 1901), Thelma Alvertia (b. 1903), Buenola Bernice (b. 1906), Dorothy Lucille "Babe" (b. 1908).  After a gap of six years, Grace had her first son, Errie Franklin.  Errie lived from 1 Mar to 3 Mar 1914 and died of "congenital debility".  In 1916 Grace gave birth for the last time when Albert Henry "Hank" was born.

                                                  Grace and Charles in their wedding photo

Grace and Charles's children

I'm not sure about the other four daughters, but my grandma Eva (seated by Hank) gave birth to her four sons in her mother's house.  I can remember swinging on a swing that hung on the porch of that same house at a family gathering.  I know that Great-Grandma Bird loved to grow African violets and that starts from some of those plants live on with her grandchildren.  She was known for her Sugar Cream Pie and her unique method of making it.  According to the Bird Family Cookbook, Great-Grandma would put sugar, a little flour, a pinch of salt, and ½ tsp. of nutmeg into a pie crust and stir them together with two fingers before adding milk, half-and-half, vanilla, and a chunk of butter, again mixing with just two fingers before baking.  Great-Grandma always told her daughters and granddaughters that the pie wouldn't turn out right unless it was carefully stirred in this way.

                                             Sugar Cream Pie is the official Indiana state pie.

Great-Grandma Bird is buried next to Great-Grandpa Bird in the Milford Cemetery in Milford, Indiana, where she lived for 67 years. She is remembered for her kindness, her sweet disposition, and her love for her family.