This is the final installment of “Lide’s papers.” The continuity of these posts was broken because I had two items of more immediacy to blog about. For other aspects concerning the delay of this fourth post, see my notes at the end of this blog.
March 22, 1938.
Our Great Grandfather Schaeffer was a Hessian soldier, hired by the English King George the third to help the English Army put down the Revolution in the United States or rather the New America. (Cousin Claron Shafer says he was not a Hessian soldier.C.E.S.) In this way he did cross the ocean three times. (I had it from my father that his grandfather Shafer crossed the ocean three times. It is to this that she refers. C.E.S.) These soldiers were brought over and then the survivors were returned to their native land and it is supposed he returned to the U.S. of his own accord. Grandma Shafer, my mother’s stepmother told me that this grandfather Shaeffer performed a feat during the Revolutionary war equal to Putnam’s famous ride down the stone stairway and told me to try to remember it. She lived in the same neighborhood as our grandfather Henry Shafer.
Aunt Sarah’s maiden name is Rummel. When we lived for a year or two in Auburn Indiana and went from there to Montana Aunt Sarah told me to go out to visit her brother living out of that town. He was then County Commissioner of that County. So you see he was our mother’s and your father’s cousin and too Uncle Christ is a cousin to Aunt Sarah. Aunt Sarah was married before she married Uncle Christ. Aunt Sarah’s married name first time was Fornay. One daughter to this marriage who died in early womanhood. AMary Laautzenhiser’s mother was a Rummel And yes I meant to tell you one time in the early sixties Aunt Catherine and Hannah and I went with Grandpa Shafer to visit his brother Jake Shafer in Fulton County. (This brother died in 1854 but his descendants still lives there and in Marshall county and hold a reunion annually at or near Argos. C.E.S.) He had several boys, one I remember was named Philetus. We staid several days. This was in the early sixties. I may have been eleven years old, maybe twelve. Please excuse my repeating. I am also very forgetful too.
One thing in your writing and publishing your book the name Shafer is not correct. Scheaffer.
I told Emma Kate there was one brother of yours named Shirley, an infant maybe a year or more old. (His name was Grant and called Bubby. C.E.S) I lived with your parents and washed his didies and loved him, the baby, very much. I was not there at his birth nor when he died. At that time your mother looked so much like you did in 1920. And was Lulu your sister or Emma Kate’s child? She certainly was a lovely child. I had a picture of her but that and many others burned in the house in 1926. During the life of little (Shirley) Uncle John lived in Laketon. My brother Joseph no doubt lived there at the same time. I went to school to Uncle John there too. One winter he taught at a country school called Center school. Five miles from Laketon west. That year I went to your Uncle Darius Lautzenhiser in Laketon. My sister Bi lived with Darius’ and went to school. It was Ida (Lautzenhiser) who called her Bi instead of Abi so she kept the nickname. One year 1861 or 1862 Uncle John taught at “Sherman’s College” in the Butterbaugh neighborhood cross roads one mile from grandpa’s house were Bi and I lived. Uncle John taught singing too. Those days they were called singing masters and school masters. He always corrected us in our English and did much for our welfare as well as your washing and ironing and cooking for us. We helped with the children and dishes and errands. When Uncle John was away Bie carried water a quarter of a mile at their farm that Emma later owned. And I was there the day that your father and mother and Emma and Elva moved on this place. Your Grandfather Lautzenhiser was along and as they were out of matches he, Grandfather Lautzenhiser, took off his spectacles, gathered up a small bit of paper and a little shavings and made a fire in the yard to cook the coffee for our lunch. Grandfather held his spectacles in the sun and started the fire. Old folks knew a few things young folks learned from them. That was a long time ago. My room was up in the attic of that one or two room log house. Yes I must tell you too that your mother had twins. I do not remember what sex. They died almost immediately. (Edna and Edgar. C.E.S)
The Shafers are or were all great riders and dared many things: for instance our grandfather volunteered to carry a rope across a stream no younger man would do. It was to carry a rope across the stream walking a pole laid across the stream. Then larger timber could be taken across to build a bridge. This was in the neighborhood of his farm between North Manchester and Laketon. His farm was one mile off the Laketon and Manchester road and one mile from Laketon. We could hear the church bells from both places. I love the bells. Now here in Okanagan they have gongs and how we miss the school bell. We live on Rose Street two blocks long and a High School and a Jr.High School building face down this street. So we have a drove of students coming and going in front of our house. Our daughter Katherine is building the house as we live in it. Just now we have a new permanent floor and kitchen cupboard and sink all built in. Will soon send the data you wish.
Lide Wantz
Correction to the above record.
Since Lide went in the early sixties with our grandfather to Fulton County it could not have been to visit his brother Jake for Jake died in 1854 when Lide was only four years old. She speaks of his having several boys; one of them Phyletus. Now Phyletus was a grandson of Jakes, a son of Jake’s oldest son John. So it is evident that she with our grandfather at that time visited with John instead of his father Jake.
C.E.S.
A LETTER WRITTEN TO HER COUSIN CHAS. E. SHAFER BUT NOT MAILED.
Mary Lautzenhizer told me the German Bible she had was her mother’s and of course it is then the sister of our Grandmother Susan Rummel, and Sarah (we called her Sally) Harmon’s mother was a sister too. Her name was Catherine, my mother’s Aunt Catherine. Mary Eli told me my mother took Hannah and visited their Aunt Catherine Seitner, and Hannah cried and my mother cried. I visited them too at about the age of seventeen with Elis’ on their visits to Miami county visiting Mary’s sisters and brothers. Laura may have this bible. I am going to tell you how I came to live at Eli’s. I had been at George Stevensons of Wabash a second time and told Mrs.Stevenson I would like to go over to Manchester and try to teach school some time, so when I came to Aunt Mary’s, your mother, (some of the time we said Uncle John) but as I told your sister when we visited in 1920 she long mothered and advised us. As we grew on older we went to her with our troubles and especially on questions of etiquette. She would get out her book on such articles and soon settled all questions. My, she often got tired of taking care of us, wetting the bed and making her use her pretty quilts,and, well everything, but I was so disappointed not to see her at her big living room. Of course I knew they were both gone. I guess the girls thought it strange I thought only of Aunt Mary but your father did much for us; saw to our going to school, all he as able to do for us. He even let Joseph stay with them and go to summer school six weeks when he was about 16 or 17 years old, and Emma, sister Emma, was there often too. Joe had been to live at Ridgley’s at the age of 12 years to about 16 or 17. Well I would write more but want to tell you of Aunt Mary and when I came from Wabash always coming directly to Uncle John’s. Aunt Mary told me she just could not take me. I had not arrived at womanhood so of course there was a question and might be lots of trouble and I not knowing the why of all this question until later. Mary Eli said she would take me. I was going on seventeen and I staid there and went to school until I was nineteen and what they then called “Quituated” school.
No one was ever treated better than I was there and made welcome always. Uncle John and Aunt Mary fixed up their house, the old one, and papered and calcimined so as to have that house nice as I had asked to be married there, but they and Eli’s were not on good terms on account of his brother Joe Lautzenhiser and I wanted Eli to be there and then after all he went to Miami and was not there.
NOTES from Frustrated Sue
Although the family relationships that are continued in this final blog are a treasure trove of research leads for a family genealogist, I fear they will not be very meaningful to the casual reader. It took me a bit of thought before I decided to go ahead and post this final part.
Two factors brought me to the decision to do so. The first is the integrity of the papers. Lide’s character shows in these passages as well as in the narratives that have been previously posted. Lide deserves to have her complete work shared.
[A reminder that I did some slight editing for the purpose of these blogs. I rearranged some of the materials so that the narrative would flow more smoothly. Also, I “corrected spelling” as far a possible in connection with the smudged typewritten words. All other spelling and grammar is as Lide and Charley wrote these papers.]
The second reason for posting these last entries is that ALL the genealogy clues have now been placed into the blog. A total of 72 individuals of possible genealogical interest to me have been named in these papers. (I am excluding names such as Frank Stockton and Gene Stratton Porter and her brother; they are of historical interest, but they do not enter into my genealogy researches even as connections of in-laws.) 5 of these 72 people are listed with the “surname” UNKNOWN; the remaining 67 people have 14 surnames between them; and one of these “Schaeffer” is a spelling variation of another “Shafer.” So I have from 13 to 18 surnames to be looked into as I work to chart my family and my family’s relations and to write their stories in the context of history.
I can foresee many blogs about these people sometime in the future. As for today, Lide’s papers have been placed “in the cloud” where other researchers may find her if they are interested. And I need to return to my 21st century genealogy concerns — which may be the subject of one or more future blogs.
Here’s to facing the frustrations and celebrating the joys of genealogy,
Frustrated Sue
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
The Just Genealogy Book Club and “Real Genealogy”
Those of us who gather on Sundays and Tuesdays at the Family History Center and the Just Genealogy Fire Pit at Second Life decided to have a book club. We also decided to study and discuss Val Greenwood’s The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy. Last Tuesday (August 23, 2011) we met to discuss Chapters 1 and 2 of the book. (At our next meeting, on Tuesday September 20, we will discuss Chapters 3 and 4.)
I own the Greenwood book. When I first bought it, I pretty much read it from cover to cover. Since then, I have used it to look up specific topics, such as land records or military records. And, indeed, this is a valid use of the book. But as I study it in preparation for the book club meetings, I am discovering that I have been fairly casual in applying some aspects of genealogical practice as described by Val Greenwood.
In Chapter 1 the author makes a comparison of the research techniques employed by a research chemist with those to be employed by a genealogist. He describes five stages (or steps) of the research process and shows a chart of this research cycle. At MoSGA, early in August, Patricia Walls Stamm showed this cycle and discussed it. And I smugly thought that I agree with the concept and all was well.
Reading Chapter 1 pulled me up short. Yes, I agree with this idea, but I have not been carefully following these stages. It is true that I had already stared my research when I first read the book, so (perhaps) I can be excused that I had ommitted the first stage, the “preliminary survey;” after all, I didn’t KNOW I should have done this, so that’s OK, isn’t it?
Well, NO. Once I became aware of this step, I should have made a preliminary survey before I continued any research. What is out there about me, about my father, and about my mother? A Google search, a Mocavo search, and a search of public trees on Ancestry and on RootsWeb doesn’t take a lot of time. Searching WikiTree and Geni.com might also yield other research.
So I did this for any mention of research about me and any research about my father (other people on my tree are still lacking a preliminary survey, but it will come). I was lucky, the sources that I found in this search were already known to me. Most were unsourced; most with sources get their sources from me. So on the date of this blog, the preliminary survey shows me that I am breaking new ground.
But this does not ensure that this particular preliminary survey will remain true as I continue to locate family members and to document their lives. When I plan additional research on anyone in my database, I will remember to repeat the preliminary survey. Otherwise, how will I know that a cousin or cousin-in-law has begun research on this line and has brought to light new information on the subject of my research?
Stage 2 is to evaluate any research that I found. You probably noticed that I had taken this step. The research that I located in the preliminary survey step was already known to me and I was aware of the amount of source references suppled in each instance. I do not count unsourced data as reliable data. It is useful in pointing the way to research but it doesn’t provide answers. So these found instances of research did not provide me with reliable data which could be used in connection with or instead of my own research.
Stage 3: Yes, I can be excused for not having done this step as yet. Stage 3 is the stage where you plan your research. I have spent as much time during the past three years in learning how to plan research and to record my research as I have spent in actual research. I consider this as an affirmative situation. I have been learning instead of rushing ahead toward a huge list of unsourced names.
The class at Second Life which studied Dr. Jones’ course on Inferential Genealogy was the final instruction necessary in order for my to learn how to create a focused goal. Other lessons have begun to help me create records of my research that will be meaningful to me today and will remain meaningful in the future. I took the time to to print out and examine a set of more than 30 forms which I have gathered from four different sources over these past years. After examining these forms, I have selected a dozen which I hope will enable me to keep meaningful logs.
So far my problem with logs is that I haven’t found a way to keep records that are instinctive to me. A week later my records don’t mean much to me, so I forget to review them, and then I forget to create them. There is overlap among these twelve forms. Like Goldilocks, I’ll try they all. Perhaps one form will be “just right.” If not, I hope these forms lead me to the creation of my own instinctive research log formats.
Wednesday at supper I was lamenting to my husband that I hadn’t done any “real genealogy” this past week. The words echoed from my initial blog and I realized that I was wrong. True, I had not carried out any new research; no data, evidence, or proof had been created for anyone in any of my lines. But I HAD been doing “real genealogy;” I had been learning how to do effective research, and I had been learning to apply it to an individual record already in my database. Perhaps when I have reviewed my focused goal, I will find I have met Genealogical Proof Standards for one entry for one person in my database. And if I don’t meet G. P. S., I will know where my next research step should lead.
Now that’s “real genealogy.”
I hope we all learn by facing our frustrations and moving forward.
FrustratedSue
I own the Greenwood book. When I first bought it, I pretty much read it from cover to cover. Since then, I have used it to look up specific topics, such as land records or military records. And, indeed, this is a valid use of the book. But as I study it in preparation for the book club meetings, I am discovering that I have been fairly casual in applying some aspects of genealogical practice as described by Val Greenwood.
In Chapter 1 the author makes a comparison of the research techniques employed by a research chemist with those to be employed by a genealogist. He describes five stages (or steps) of the research process and shows a chart of this research cycle. At MoSGA, early in August, Patricia Walls Stamm showed this cycle and discussed it. And I smugly thought that I agree with the concept and all was well.
Reading Chapter 1 pulled me up short. Yes, I agree with this idea, but I have not been carefully following these stages. It is true that I had already stared my research when I first read the book, so (perhaps) I can be excused that I had ommitted the first stage, the “preliminary survey;” after all, I didn’t KNOW I should have done this, so that’s OK, isn’t it?
Well, NO. Once I became aware of this step, I should have made a preliminary survey before I continued any research. What is out there about me, about my father, and about my mother? A Google search, a Mocavo search, and a search of public trees on Ancestry and on RootsWeb doesn’t take a lot of time. Searching WikiTree and Geni.com might also yield other research.
So I did this for any mention of research about me and any research about my father (other people on my tree are still lacking a preliminary survey, but it will come). I was lucky, the sources that I found in this search were already known to me. Most were unsourced; most with sources get their sources from me. So on the date of this blog, the preliminary survey shows me that I am breaking new ground.
But this does not ensure that this particular preliminary survey will remain true as I continue to locate family members and to document their lives. When I plan additional research on anyone in my database, I will remember to repeat the preliminary survey. Otherwise, how will I know that a cousin or cousin-in-law has begun research on this line and has brought to light new information on the subject of my research?
Stage 2 is to evaluate any research that I found. You probably noticed that I had taken this step. The research that I located in the preliminary survey step was already known to me and I was aware of the amount of source references suppled in each instance. I do not count unsourced data as reliable data. It is useful in pointing the way to research but it doesn’t provide answers. So these found instances of research did not provide me with reliable data which could be used in connection with or instead of my own research.
Stage 3: Yes, I can be excused for not having done this step as yet. Stage 3 is the stage where you plan your research. I have spent as much time during the past three years in learning how to plan research and to record my research as I have spent in actual research. I consider this as an affirmative situation. I have been learning instead of rushing ahead toward a huge list of unsourced names.
The class at Second Life which studied Dr. Jones’ course on Inferential Genealogy was the final instruction necessary in order for my to learn how to create a focused goal. Other lessons have begun to help me create records of my research that will be meaningful to me today and will remain meaningful in the future. I took the time to to print out and examine a set of more than 30 forms which I have gathered from four different sources over these past years. After examining these forms, I have selected a dozen which I hope will enable me to keep meaningful logs.
So far my problem with logs is that I haven’t found a way to keep records that are instinctive to me. A week later my records don’t mean much to me, so I forget to review them, and then I forget to create them. There is overlap among these twelve forms. Like Goldilocks, I’ll try they all. Perhaps one form will be “just right.” If not, I hope these forms lead me to the creation of my own instinctive research log formats.
Wednesday at supper I was lamenting to my husband that I hadn’t done any “real genealogy” this past week. The words echoed from my initial blog and I realized that I was wrong. True, I had not carried out any new research; no data, evidence, or proof had been created for anyone in any of my lines. But I HAD been doing “real genealogy;” I had been learning how to do effective research, and I had been learning to apply it to an individual record already in my database. Perhaps when I have reviewed my focused goal, I will find I have met Genealogical Proof Standards for one entry for one person in my database. And if I don’t meet G. P. S., I will know where my next research step should lead.
Now that’s “real genealogy.”
I hope we all learn by facing our frustrations and moving forward.
FrustratedSue
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Genealogy Conferences
Lide’s story is complete, although the final materials have not yet been posted. I am interrupting the flow of that series to discuss my recent experiences with attending genealogy conferences.
On July 29 and 30 we were in Overland Park, Kansas (part of the greater Kansas City area) to attend the MidWest Family History Expo, a seven-track two-day conference with three all-conference meetings.
The following weekend, on August 5 and 6 we stayed home and attended the MoSGA conference, a two-track two-day event with four all-conference meetings.
We had never attended a genealogy conference before, so this was a very intense first exposure. I do not recommend scheduling conferences this closely together. We should have allowed ourselves time to unwind, to allow our learning to become assimilated, and to resume our “regular” existence for a bit before we attended a second conference. Our impressions are somewhat jumbled and our minds and bodies are a bit overtired.
Both conferences were exhilarating. Being together with fellow genealogists, catching their enthusiasms, learning from experts has sent me home planning to try harder to follow my ancestors’ trails and to follow those trails using careful scholarship techniques.
Holly Hanson of Family History Expos put together an outstanding event with presentations to stimulate the experienced researcher and with information to help the beginner. FamilySearch.org and NARA were there to introduce their new online faces. We were taught how to take advantage of the “new look” at both these sites.
Other presentations were “how-tos” for specific programs such as Geni.org, RootsMagic, and Ages Online. Still other classes involved techniques such as creating and using captions, using photographs, and preserving the same. The “star” of this conference was Lisa Louise Cooke, who led several classes exploring her knowledge of Google and GoogleEarth. She was so popular that it was necessary to move all her presentations to the largest meeting room.
There were vendors there: book sellers, software vendors, people offering products not specific to genealogy. I learned from talking to the vendors as well as from attending classes. I was befriended by the lady who organized the “ask the pros” booth. She gave me some good advice as to “where-to-go next” after I finish my line-by-line study of the military records for William T. Dorrance. Unfortunately, I cannot thank her by name because I lost that note (her name, not the advice). I only hope she finds this blog and learns how grateful I am.
The conference held the next weekend by the Missouri State Genealogical Association was much smaller in scale; the presentations were just as knowledgeable and the vendors just as exciting. And the interchange with fellow genealogists was as refreshing and renewing. A complete stranger gave me a suggestion which will simplify how I frame a request for baptismal records. A lecturer from Jefferson County took home a brief family outline about my elusive William T. Dorrance. The following Tuesday and Wednesday brought me information from her co-worker that has opened up new records for my use!
The “star” of this conference was Hank Jones, who gave four talks at all-conference meetings. When the fun of these presentations focusing on his “poor Palatine” studies “wears away,” you find that Hank has given you advice on sound research principles.
So I am overtired, “over-educated,” and probably over-stimulated; but I am also very excited and very happy. When and WHERE is the next conference?
Back home, I was so tired from the Kansas City trip that I slept through a Webinar that I had wished to attend. I did attend a meeting in Second Life where we marked out several weeks worth of community discussion and learning plans. After the local conference I attended a Webinar on NARA’s online presence and then hurried off to attend a meeting in Second Life where newbies are learning to handle our avatars.
As we left Kansas City, I asked my husband if the conference was worth the physical expense and budget expense as compared to what I experience in Webinars, Scanfest, BlogTalk radio, Second Life, and the entire internet genealogical experience. Now that I have completed my two weekends of conferences, I have come up with the answer that fits me.
YES, I need to attend conferences. There is a connection at conferences that I do not find at other genealogical meetings. I find that I enjoyed the smaller meeting slightly better. I believe that I will go to one or two smaller meetings each year. But the larger meeting was so very exciting that I look forward to attending more. Probably not as often as the smaller meetings, but often enough.
And YES, in many ways the online meetings teach me more. In the online environment, I learn about a specific topic, then take time to assimilate this knowledge before I tackle another subject. The various activities in Second Life combine some of the give-and-take of a conference with the slower pace I appreciate with online studies.
So my personal learning plan will be based upon online studies enriched by at least 1 regional conference each year and further spiced by the occasional larger conference.
Here’s to facing our frustrations while embracing our opportunities to learn.
Frustrated Sue
On July 29 and 30 we were in Overland Park, Kansas (part of the greater Kansas City area) to attend the MidWest Family History Expo, a seven-track two-day conference with three all-conference meetings.
The following weekend, on August 5 and 6 we stayed home and attended the MoSGA conference, a two-track two-day event with four all-conference meetings.
We had never attended a genealogy conference before, so this was a very intense first exposure. I do not recommend scheduling conferences this closely together. We should have allowed ourselves time to unwind, to allow our learning to become assimilated, and to resume our “regular” existence for a bit before we attended a second conference. Our impressions are somewhat jumbled and our minds and bodies are a bit overtired.
Both conferences were exhilarating. Being together with fellow genealogists, catching their enthusiasms, learning from experts has sent me home planning to try harder to follow my ancestors’ trails and to follow those trails using careful scholarship techniques.
Holly Hanson of Family History Expos put together an outstanding event with presentations to stimulate the experienced researcher and with information to help the beginner. FamilySearch.org and NARA were there to introduce their new online faces. We were taught how to take advantage of the “new look” at both these sites.
Other presentations were “how-tos” for specific programs such as Geni.org, RootsMagic, and Ages Online. Still other classes involved techniques such as creating and using captions, using photographs, and preserving the same. The “star” of this conference was Lisa Louise Cooke, who led several classes exploring her knowledge of Google and GoogleEarth. She was so popular that it was necessary to move all her presentations to the largest meeting room.
There were vendors there: book sellers, software vendors, people offering products not specific to genealogy. I learned from talking to the vendors as well as from attending classes. I was befriended by the lady who organized the “ask the pros” booth. She gave me some good advice as to “where-to-go next” after I finish my line-by-line study of the military records for William T. Dorrance. Unfortunately, I cannot thank her by name because I lost that note (her name, not the advice). I only hope she finds this blog and learns how grateful I am.
The conference held the next weekend by the Missouri State Genealogical Association was much smaller in scale; the presentations were just as knowledgeable and the vendors just as exciting. And the interchange with fellow genealogists was as refreshing and renewing. A complete stranger gave me a suggestion which will simplify how I frame a request for baptismal records. A lecturer from Jefferson County took home a brief family outline about my elusive William T. Dorrance. The following Tuesday and Wednesday brought me information from her co-worker that has opened up new records for my use!
The “star” of this conference was Hank Jones, who gave four talks at all-conference meetings. When the fun of these presentations focusing on his “poor Palatine” studies “wears away,” you find that Hank has given you advice on sound research principles.
So I am overtired, “over-educated,” and probably over-stimulated; but I am also very excited and very happy. When and WHERE is the next conference?
Back home, I was so tired from the Kansas City trip that I slept through a Webinar that I had wished to attend. I did attend a meeting in Second Life where we marked out several weeks worth of community discussion and learning plans. After the local conference I attended a Webinar on NARA’s online presence and then hurried off to attend a meeting in Second Life where newbies are learning to handle our avatars.
As we left Kansas City, I asked my husband if the conference was worth the physical expense and budget expense as compared to what I experience in Webinars, Scanfest, BlogTalk radio, Second Life, and the entire internet genealogical experience. Now that I have completed my two weekends of conferences, I have come up with the answer that fits me.
YES, I need to attend conferences. There is a connection at conferences that I do not find at other genealogical meetings. I find that I enjoyed the smaller meeting slightly better. I believe that I will go to one or two smaller meetings each year. But the larger meeting was so very exciting that I look forward to attending more. Probably not as often as the smaller meetings, but often enough.
And YES, in many ways the online meetings teach me more. In the online environment, I learn about a specific topic, then take time to assimilate this knowledge before I tackle another subject. The various activities in Second Life combine some of the give-and-take of a conference with the slower pace I appreciate with online studies.
So my personal learning plan will be based upon online studies enriched by at least 1 regional conference each year and further spiced by the occasional larger conference.
Here’s to facing our frustrations while embracing our opportunities to learn.
Frustrated Sue
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Lide's Blog – Part 3
This blog completes Lide’s story. We begin with school stories, as pupil and as teacher):
SUMMER SCHOOL IN THE EARLY 60’S (as pupil):
Teacher about 30. Children of all ages. Unpainted desks. Teacher brought her sewing along with her, a wool and silk log cabin quilt. During study and recitations she worked on quilt blocks. Little girls brought boquets of Poppies. Sometimes one immense red Poppy and pretty soon would be be asleep. No offense. Between times we, with a little rag and a bottle of water, washed our desks during study hour which was always when not reciting. One boy of 14 or 15 was a naturalist who brought frogs, bugs, butterflies and snakes and was making a real show which needed only 8 pins for admittance, and maybe later, silver. Finally he brought a copper head snake and soon the question was “Were she a southern sympathizer, out she would go.” The idea of any one allowing a copperhead snake to be on display in any northern school. I think by abolishing the naturalist show she was suffered to teach her term out.
One girl 14 years old in this school wore a long dark brown calico apron buttoned down the back with white buttons, and hair long Dutch bob which was the style and read, like Pomona of the Range to Catherine only. One time while reading Pamona of the Range by Stockton I said to my brother Joe, ”Listen here Joe” and I mimicked this girl as well as Pomona. The teacher was usually too busy with her sewing to notice her pupils’ mistakes. Not all teachers were like her of course.
(Here a sheet seems to be missing as it seems disconnected. note from C.E.S.)
(as teacher):
Frank, Ed,and Joe Jr. and the late Joe Penrod of Wenatchee, In this school were the grown up girls about sixteen and eighteen who always told me what I left undone. One was, why I swept the house after school instead of letting or allowing the boys and girls to. Let the sausages and pie, mostly apple, fall on the floor, etc. etc. etc. I always staid after school to review the lessons for the next day. One day during history class I mis-pronounced a word in Spanish and they meekly told me that two winters ago they had a teacher who was fine in history and could pronounce all the foreign words, so after that they corrected all the mistakes. Along after the fall crops were in and wood cut about five of six young men came to school and asked me if I would let them come in and cipher through the arithmetic, and read history and spell, and they they would not ask any assistance in the book of numbers. But one day one of them came to me with an example he could not do; so [he] asked me to do it for him. The angels certainly were taking care of me as I performed the difficult task without any trouble, not knowing any rule or reading any note. Just did and thanked my stars I could. My ability with numbers: Were Jean Stratton Porter’s brother here today he could tell you what poor certificates I always had although I was always considered one of the best in any school I ever attended. But I had the tact to teach, which too many [trained] and learned teachers do not have,and as my Ben said about a very bright teacher sent out to teach our country school of about two in the winters, ”she knows much but is too lazy to impart it to her pupils.
Lide’s Final Years:
Clipping from Okanagan Wash, newspaper, May 30, 1939.
WANTZ’S TAKE NOTE OF THEIR WEDDING DATE.
Local couple married 65 years ago in Indiana; Golden wedding Club meet
Sixty fifth anniversary of the wedding of Mr.and Mrs. J. P. Wantz was observed by the Golden Wedding club and a host of other friends at the Wantz home here Sunday. The local pair were married in North Manchester, Indiana.
Mr. and Mrs. Wantz are both 89 years of age. Mr. Wantz was born at Lewisburg in Ohio June 13,1850. And Mrs. Wantz was born at Laketon, Indiana July 7 of the same year. They were married May 26, 1874. They are both in good health and are active and alert, mentally and physically.
They came to Montana in 1882, arriving in Helena just as the Vigilantes had finished hanging the last horse thief who fell a victim to their law enforcement. Mr. Wantz ran a photograph gallery in Helena for a number of years and then they moved to a ranch which he operated until 1905.
Montana was a mighty rough country when we first pioneered there, Mrs Wantz recalls.
In 1905 they moved further west, settling at Cashmere where they lived until 1918 when they came to an orchard on Pogue’s Flat. For several years they have lived in Okanagan.
Mr. Wantz has been a member of the Odd Fellows lodge for 69 years and Mrs. Wantz has been a member of the Rebekhas for 65 years. Mr. Wantz is a past grand patriarch of the former order.
They had eight children, of whom three survive. They are Mrs. W. F. Kester of Great Falls, Montana, Mrs. Fred Young of Leavenworth (later of Wanatchee) and Katherine of Okanogan. They have two grand children and two great grandchildren.
At dinner at the Wantz home were members of the Golden Wedding Club as follows: Mr.and Mrs. Jack Thorp of Okanagan, Dr. and Mrs. J. L. Pogue of Pogue Flat, Mrs. Wilson, president of Omak, Mr.and Mrs. Wootring, E. T. Dodd and Mrs. Emily Chedzey of Okanagan, and Mr.and Mrs.Wantz. Also present at the dinner were Mrs. Ella Watkins of Omak, Emma Proctor of Okanogan, and Katherine Wantz. Mr.and Mrs. Frank Butterbaugh of Manson, old Indiana friends , also were visiters.
In honor of the occasion Mrs. Jack Thorp wrote the following poem:
We are growing old, dear friends, Our career is nearly done.
We gaze from life’s west windows To the setting of the sun.
And away beyond the sunsets We see a golden glow
As radiant from the Throne of God Criter on waters flow.
We penetrate fair Beulah land Where dwell the loved and blest,
We hear our Savior’s gentle words “All come to me and rest”.
May we all trust our Pilot dear Nor fear the surges dark.
He will lead and guide us homeward; He will steer our fragile bark.
On Sept. 7, 1941 Lide suffered a heart attack in the presence of her family and passed in a few minutes.
On July 19, 1943 James suffered a heart attack and had already passed when Katherine came in.
Both are buried in the cemetery at Cashmere Washington.
Source: Eliza “Lide” (Hoover) Wantz (1850 -1941), (Okanagan, Washington), Charles E. Shafer (1867 - 1961), (Benton Harbor, Michigan), Lide’s ca 1938 Family History and Reminiscences, focusing on the 1860s and 1870s, Annotated transcription by Shafer ca 1943., Photocopies, supplied by Rae (Strickler) Underwood, (private address), to Sue W. McCormick, {August 2008}, Prime source(s); sometimes hard to read., My transcription is stored in the computer, the original and a printout are in the paper files.
The remaining information in these papers consists of family relationships as Lide recalls them. I plan to publish these in a fourth blog about Lide. I don’t believe that many of you are interested in who “Aunt Mary Eli” is; I am publishing this because these papers are a treasure trove of family history (and of how recollections illustrate history-book history). But the papers are also genealogical facts in full measure, pressed to the brim and flowing over. Many of these genealogical hints have appeared in these first three blogs. The information at the beginning of the fourth blog based on Lide’s papers will present the rest of that information.
SUMMER SCHOOL IN THE EARLY 60’S (as pupil):
Teacher about 30. Children of all ages. Unpainted desks. Teacher brought her sewing along with her, a wool and silk log cabin quilt. During study and recitations she worked on quilt blocks. Little girls brought boquets of Poppies. Sometimes one immense red Poppy and pretty soon would be be asleep. No offense. Between times we, with a little rag and a bottle of water, washed our desks during study hour which was always when not reciting. One boy of 14 or 15 was a naturalist who brought frogs, bugs, butterflies and snakes and was making a real show which needed only 8 pins for admittance, and maybe later, silver. Finally he brought a copper head snake and soon the question was “Were she a southern sympathizer, out she would go.” The idea of any one allowing a copperhead snake to be on display in any northern school. I think by abolishing the naturalist show she was suffered to teach her term out.
One girl 14 years old in this school wore a long dark brown calico apron buttoned down the back with white buttons, and hair long Dutch bob which was the style and read, like Pomona of the Range to Catherine only. One time while reading Pamona of the Range by Stockton I said to my brother Joe, ”Listen here Joe” and I mimicked this girl as well as Pomona. The teacher was usually too busy with her sewing to notice her pupils’ mistakes. Not all teachers were like her of course.
(Here a sheet seems to be missing as it seems disconnected. note from C.E.S.)
(as teacher):
Frank, Ed,and Joe Jr. and the late Joe Penrod of Wenatchee, In this school were the grown up girls about sixteen and eighteen who always told me what I left undone. One was, why I swept the house after school instead of letting or allowing the boys and girls to. Let the sausages and pie, mostly apple, fall on the floor, etc. etc. etc. I always staid after school to review the lessons for the next day. One day during history class I mis-pronounced a word in Spanish and they meekly told me that two winters ago they had a teacher who was fine in history and could pronounce all the foreign words, so after that they corrected all the mistakes. Along after the fall crops were in and wood cut about five of six young men came to school and asked me if I would let them come in and cipher through the arithmetic, and read history and spell, and they they would not ask any assistance in the book of numbers. But one day one of them came to me with an example he could not do; so [he] asked me to do it for him. The angels certainly were taking care of me as I performed the difficult task without any trouble, not knowing any rule or reading any note. Just did and thanked my stars I could. My ability with numbers: Were Jean Stratton Porter’s brother here today he could tell you what poor certificates I always had although I was always considered one of the best in any school I ever attended. But I had the tact to teach, which too many [trained] and learned teachers do not have,and as my Ben said about a very bright teacher sent out to teach our country school of about two in the winters, ”she knows much but is too lazy to impart it to her pupils.
Lide’s Final Years:
Clipping from Okanagan Wash, newspaper, May 30, 1939.
WANTZ’S TAKE NOTE OF THEIR WEDDING DATE.
Local couple married 65 years ago in Indiana; Golden wedding Club meet
Sixty fifth anniversary of the wedding of Mr.and Mrs. J. P. Wantz was observed by the Golden Wedding club and a host of other friends at the Wantz home here Sunday. The local pair were married in North Manchester, Indiana.
Mr. and Mrs. Wantz are both 89 years of age. Mr. Wantz was born at Lewisburg in Ohio June 13,1850. And Mrs. Wantz was born at Laketon, Indiana July 7 of the same year. They were married May 26, 1874. They are both in good health and are active and alert, mentally and physically.
They came to Montana in 1882, arriving in Helena just as the Vigilantes had finished hanging the last horse thief who fell a victim to their law enforcement. Mr. Wantz ran a photograph gallery in Helena for a number of years and then they moved to a ranch which he operated until 1905.
Montana was a mighty rough country when we first pioneered there, Mrs Wantz recalls.
In 1905 they moved further west, settling at Cashmere where they lived until 1918 when they came to an orchard on Pogue’s Flat. For several years they have lived in Okanagan.
Mr. Wantz has been a member of the Odd Fellows lodge for 69 years and Mrs. Wantz has been a member of the Rebekhas for 65 years. Mr. Wantz is a past grand patriarch of the former order.
They had eight children, of whom three survive. They are Mrs. W. F. Kester of Great Falls, Montana, Mrs. Fred Young of Leavenworth (later of Wanatchee) and Katherine of Okanogan. They have two grand children and two great grandchildren.
At dinner at the Wantz home were members of the Golden Wedding Club as follows: Mr.and Mrs. Jack Thorp of Okanagan, Dr. and Mrs. J. L. Pogue of Pogue Flat, Mrs. Wilson, president of Omak, Mr.and Mrs. Wootring, E. T. Dodd and Mrs. Emily Chedzey of Okanagan, and Mr.and Mrs.Wantz. Also present at the dinner were Mrs. Ella Watkins of Omak, Emma Proctor of Okanogan, and Katherine Wantz. Mr.and Mrs. Frank Butterbaugh of Manson, old Indiana friends , also were visiters.
In honor of the occasion Mrs. Jack Thorp wrote the following poem:
We are growing old, dear friends, Our career is nearly done.
We gaze from life’s west windows To the setting of the sun.
And away beyond the sunsets We see a golden glow
As radiant from the Throne of God Criter on waters flow.
We penetrate fair Beulah land Where dwell the loved and blest,
We hear our Savior’s gentle words “All come to me and rest”.
May we all trust our Pilot dear Nor fear the surges dark.
He will lead and guide us homeward; He will steer our fragile bark.
On Sept. 7, 1941 Lide suffered a heart attack in the presence of her family and passed in a few minutes.
On July 19, 1943 James suffered a heart attack and had already passed when Katherine came in.
Both are buried in the cemetery at Cashmere Washington.
Source: Eliza “Lide” (Hoover) Wantz (1850 -1941), (Okanagan, Washington), Charles E. Shafer (1867 - 1961), (Benton Harbor, Michigan), Lide’s ca 1938 Family History and Reminiscences, focusing on the 1860s and 1870s, Annotated transcription by Shafer ca 1943., Photocopies, supplied by Rae (Strickler) Underwood, (private address), to Sue W. McCormick, {August 2008}, Prime source(s); sometimes hard to read., My transcription is stored in the computer, the original and a printout are in the paper files.
The remaining information in these papers consists of family relationships as Lide recalls them. I plan to publish these in a fourth blog about Lide. I don’t believe that many of you are interested in who “Aunt Mary Eli” is; I am publishing this because these papers are a treasure trove of family history (and of how recollections illustrate history-book history). But the papers are also genealogical facts in full measure, pressed to the brim and flowing over. Many of these genealogical hints have appeared in these first three blogs. The information at the beginning of the fourth blog based on Lide’s papers will present the rest of that information.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Lide's Blog – Part 2
This is the second part of Lide’s memoirs. Lide wrote these reminiscences in two letters (one never mailed) and several sheets of paper between 1938 and 1941, when she was between 88 and 91 years of age. Uncle Charlie had not edited these into any specific order. I have done a very small amount of ordering of these papers by putting the trip narratives into the first blog, the remaining Mankato story and the story of an earlier pioneering migration into this one. I plan to transcribe the rest of Lide’s personal story in a following blog. The flavor of these entries reflect the minimal editing which has been done. These are Lide’s own words.
Life in Mankato and the Return to Wabash County
They brought one ladderback split bottom chair for grandfather who was born in 1800, so was not so old. My father worked in town at his trade of blacksmithing and we staid alone. One night about 11 o’clock my mother said “A tree painter.” Hoosiers call panthers, painters. No more sleep for her. Next morning we found a man of fine qualities, excepting his fondness for liquor, had been to town and could go no further on his way home than near a tree where he and his wife slept and of course carried on for awhile. Surely the cry of a panther is like the human voice.
In time they built our house and the neighbors came to “raise the house.” Logs were rather large and at noon all hands were at the long table made by taking the side boards off the wagon. The Indians let my father use their Birch bark canoe. He took me with him to fish one day and I always felt worried for fear they would come and tell us to give it up.
The wild rice grew fine on the edge of the lake. I saw little hammocks or swinging cradles high in trees where, earlier, Indian women buried their babes. The Indians did not bother people it seems. There were quail all summer and squirrels, and the Passenger Pigeons, and truly they sat so thick on the tree limbs, that they said, they broke them down. My grandfather trapped them and quail and we were supplied with meat while we were there. There were wild plums and berries. We soon moved to town as the required time was out on the pre-empted land. We were put to school and had to pass my father’s shop. We would go in and he would stop his work, pick us up, kiss us and put us on the forge and where we were warmed. Minnesota is a cold country. He would lift us down, kiss us, and send us on our way. Later he sent us to a private school nearer home. This I think a New York Yankee woman who had the school, taught the three R’s, music, dancing, fancy work, etiquette, everything a girl should know. She had exhibitions,and one number was from biggest to littlest child dressed in white, carrying a small flag, sitting in a semi-circle and singing “Columbia the Gem of the Ocean,” all waving our flags at singing of the chorus. *I think this might not be a bad idea to have this song sung in school occasionally these days accompanied by flags waving.
One day my sister and I had been away on a visit. When we came home my mother was in bed ill, and in looking around we saw in a new cradle in which there were two black haired babes, Emma and Ella. We were so surprised and wondered where they got them. They said “Off the steamboat.” Every day I would stand and look at them. My mother said ”Liza why do you look at the babes so much?” I said “Are you sure you got them off the boat? If you didn’t you made a mistake and they are Indian babies.”
During the day my Aunt Catherine, who was with my mother, sent me to an old Indiana friend to borrow a cup of salt and said “Don’t tell them about the twins.” (They never borrowed nor lent.” They had twins too. They were lying on the bed and she asked me how my mother was and I said “She is sick.” “What” the lady said.” Yes she is and we have the same as you have there on the bed.” But did not mention the word twins because I told them I wouldn’t. Mother passed on Feb 11,1859 and in March the same year Ella followed her. In June Father went back to Indiana to settle up his father’s estate as he was executer of same.
The next year the Pike’s Peak excitement was on and the men gathered at a neighbor’s house to talk about finding gold at Pike’s Peak, Colorado and after many talks and planning my father began to get ready for this venture. When he made a promise he laid his hand on the bible and this to him was in the old days the same as an oath. So after deeding his home to my Aunt he promised her to send money to her for our keep or rather clothes as we were to stay at our Grandparents. Soon after he left we went back to Indiana. We were on our way by stage to St.Paul. There was no railway nearer than LaCross, Wis. so we had to go by boat. Here we took the boat down the Mississipi to --------- where we took the train and arrived at Wabash. Some old friends were at the depot to meet us. But the conductor got in a hurry to start the train and threw my Aunt and myself under the depot platform. We were not critically hurt but had to lay over a week with some old friends. In those days women were supposed to not travel alone and she met some critics who snubbed her on this account. She had her fifteen year old sister, Hannah. Myself aged near ten, sister Abi, eight, my brother Joseph of five, and the one twin, Emma, aged two. When we arrived in St. Paul the stage driver (it was a conveyance for our baggage and the family hired from the livery stable to convey all of us to St. Paul) the driver told my aunt the charges would be forty dollars. What could my aunt do but pay it to the scoundrel. Made our spending money short, though all had been paid in advance. But than as now such things prevailed. This man had the use of our six legged maple dining table to use while we were away. The drop leaves were as wide as the top. That was the end of that piece of our household goods as you will see later.
The Arrival of Lide’s Father’s Family into Wabash County.
Solomon Hoover moved from Stark Co., Ohio to Indiana in 1836 or 1837. They came over the mail Trace (Trail) , Camped at Pleasant Springs at the foot of a hill. He said to his family sitting down at their evening meal, “Where I camp tomorrow evening there will be our home. We have passed too many good, desirable places now to go farther.” They found a spring near which they eventually built a Dutch, colonial house. The inside doors were thick heavy oak and the wide hall doors were of black walnut; colored glass, single pane windows on each side of hall doors. Wide slabs of lime rock steps at front door. This house fronted on a field but later a county road was built as the Pioneers had no time to build through swamps so made a road around head of swamp. I taught my first school at this place called “Bear School House.” And native children and young ladies especially were called “Swamp Angels.” This last day’s journey took them nine miles north of the town of Wabash and there on a rise from the spring they built a story and a half house of hewed logs in which they lived a few years before building permanently near the spring. This log building was later used as a barn. My sister Abi and I used to play here and watch the birds nest although we were terribly afraid of the green lizards. We played in Grandma’s new yard where the “La lock” swayed and Bleeding Heart was in bloom and red peonies at their best. The natives called the new house “The White House” because it was larger than any for some distance around the neighborhood and was painted white. This same swamp was one of a chain of swamps from Kankakee on down across most of the state and was in the vicinity of the swamp Gene Stratton Porter speaks of in her books, one of them “Laddie.” She did not live far from Wabash. Her brother Eugene, one of the lawyer brothers she speaks of in “Laddie” was County Superintendent when I taught in North Manchester in grade school.
Additional Information about David Hoover, Lide’s Father
David (Big Dave) Hoover was born in Stark Co., Ohio, in the year 1826, August 14. In 1836 or 1837 he with his father and family moved to Wabash Co. Indiana. There Jun 10, 1849 he married Barbara Shafer. To them were born three children, Eliza, Abi Catherine, and Joseph. In 1856 he with the family moved to Mankato, Minnesota. Emma and Ella were born there in 1857. His wife Barbara passed in February 11,1859 followed by the twin Ella in March of the same year. In March 1860 he started to seek gold in Pike’s Peak and California. He traveled with a wagon train drawn by horses. Spent two months waiting for the outfitting of the train. This was at Council Bluffs. He said that often had no water except that in the horse hoof tracks. Said he travelled on foot thirty and forty miles a day hunting game and water. He arrived at Taylorsville, Plumas County California late in the fall of the same year. Later he travelled and prospected by steamship, boat, and stage coach and on horse back, burros carrying his anvil, picks and shovels, tools for sharpening pick and shovels for miners; visited and worked in Sacremento, Virginia City, Nevada, Carson City. Worked at his trade at the Comstock mine and in it. Was in San Francisco some time and said the city was mostly built on sand dunes. Said Denver was mostly shacks. He circled most of Pike’s Peak always about forty miles from it. Suppose he tethered the horses in Buffalo Corrals built the year before. Was told the mines were worked out so passed on to California. His little daughter Abi asked how long he would be gone. He said if he went only to Pike’s Peak it would be for three months and if he went to California he would be gone three years. After ten times three years--30 years--she came from her home in Chicago to visit him at his home at Centerville, Montana and his daughter Eliza and her husband, James P. Wantz and family. Eliza with her husband and four children arrived at Dillon Montana on May 26, 1882. twenty two years after his departure for Pike’s Peak. Recognizing one another and walking into each others arms. The R.R. platform was lined with Bullion, slabs of bacon cordwood style, and other commodities. In 1907 he came to the state of Washington at or near Cashmere. He devoted his time to caring for his invalid wife. They built a room for themselves on his daughter Eliza’s home where after his passing in 1912 she cared for his wife Amanda three years. They are buried in the Cashmere cemetery. He said in (1836 or 1837) ? (1876 or 1877) (1866 or 1867)? he with George Norton, Lee Sterling, Barr Smith and wife Mary and child, came to Centerville Montana from Baker City Oregon working at his trade and the others farming. In 1872 he married Helen Amanda Thayer of Grafton, West Virginia. To them was born one child, Harry in 1874. Passed on in 1875.
Source: Eliza “Lide” (Hoover) Wantz (1850 -1941), (Okanagan, Washington), Charles E. Shafer (1867 - 1961), (Benton Harbor, Michigan), Lide’s ca 1938 Family History and Reminiscences, focusing on the 1860s and 1870s, Annotated transcription by Shafer ca 1943., Photocopies, supplied by Rae (Strickler) Underwood, (private address), to Sue W. McCormick, {August 2008}, Prime source(s); sometimes hard to read., My transcription is stored in the computer, the original and a printout are in the paper files.
Life in Mankato and the Return to Wabash County
They brought one ladderback split bottom chair for grandfather who was born in 1800, so was not so old. My father worked in town at his trade of blacksmithing and we staid alone. One night about 11 o’clock my mother said “A tree painter.” Hoosiers call panthers, painters. No more sleep for her. Next morning we found a man of fine qualities, excepting his fondness for liquor, had been to town and could go no further on his way home than near a tree where he and his wife slept and of course carried on for awhile. Surely the cry of a panther is like the human voice.
In time they built our house and the neighbors came to “raise the house.” Logs were rather large and at noon all hands were at the long table made by taking the side boards off the wagon. The Indians let my father use their Birch bark canoe. He took me with him to fish one day and I always felt worried for fear they would come and tell us to give it up.
The wild rice grew fine on the edge of the lake. I saw little hammocks or swinging cradles high in trees where, earlier, Indian women buried their babes. The Indians did not bother people it seems. There were quail all summer and squirrels, and the Passenger Pigeons, and truly they sat so thick on the tree limbs, that they said, they broke them down. My grandfather trapped them and quail and we were supplied with meat while we were there. There were wild plums and berries. We soon moved to town as the required time was out on the pre-empted land. We were put to school and had to pass my father’s shop. We would go in and he would stop his work, pick us up, kiss us and put us on the forge and where we were warmed. Minnesota is a cold country. He would lift us down, kiss us, and send us on our way. Later he sent us to a private school nearer home. This I think a New York Yankee woman who had the school, taught the three R’s, music, dancing, fancy work, etiquette, everything a girl should know. She had exhibitions,and one number was from biggest to littlest child dressed in white, carrying a small flag, sitting in a semi-circle and singing “Columbia the Gem of the Ocean,” all waving our flags at singing of the chorus. *I think this might not be a bad idea to have this song sung in school occasionally these days accompanied by flags waving.
One day my sister and I had been away on a visit. When we came home my mother was in bed ill, and in looking around we saw in a new cradle in which there were two black haired babes, Emma and Ella. We were so surprised and wondered where they got them. They said “Off the steamboat.” Every day I would stand and look at them. My mother said ”Liza why do you look at the babes so much?” I said “Are you sure you got them off the boat? If you didn’t you made a mistake and they are Indian babies.”
During the day my Aunt Catherine, who was with my mother, sent me to an old Indiana friend to borrow a cup of salt and said “Don’t tell them about the twins.” (They never borrowed nor lent.” They had twins too. They were lying on the bed and she asked me how my mother was and I said “She is sick.” “What” the lady said.” Yes she is and we have the same as you have there on the bed.” But did not mention the word twins because I told them I wouldn’t. Mother passed on Feb 11,1859 and in March the same year Ella followed her. In June Father went back to Indiana to settle up his father’s estate as he was executer of same.
The next year the Pike’s Peak excitement was on and the men gathered at a neighbor’s house to talk about finding gold at Pike’s Peak, Colorado and after many talks and planning my father began to get ready for this venture. When he made a promise he laid his hand on the bible and this to him was in the old days the same as an oath. So after deeding his home to my Aunt he promised her to send money to her for our keep or rather clothes as we were to stay at our Grandparents. Soon after he left we went back to Indiana. We were on our way by stage to St.Paul. There was no railway nearer than LaCross, Wis. so we had to go by boat. Here we took the boat down the Mississipi to --------- where we took the train and arrived at Wabash. Some old friends were at the depot to meet us. But the conductor got in a hurry to start the train and threw my Aunt and myself under the depot platform. We were not critically hurt but had to lay over a week with some old friends. In those days women were supposed to not travel alone and she met some critics who snubbed her on this account. She had her fifteen year old sister, Hannah. Myself aged near ten, sister Abi, eight, my brother Joseph of five, and the one twin, Emma, aged two. When we arrived in St. Paul the stage driver (it was a conveyance for our baggage and the family hired from the livery stable to convey all of us to St. Paul) the driver told my aunt the charges would be forty dollars. What could my aunt do but pay it to the scoundrel. Made our spending money short, though all had been paid in advance. But than as now such things prevailed. This man had the use of our six legged maple dining table to use while we were away. The drop leaves were as wide as the top. That was the end of that piece of our household goods as you will see later.
The Arrival of Lide’s Father’s Family into Wabash County.
Solomon Hoover moved from Stark Co., Ohio to Indiana in 1836 or 1837. They came over the mail Trace (Trail) , Camped at Pleasant Springs at the foot of a hill. He said to his family sitting down at their evening meal, “Where I camp tomorrow evening there will be our home. We have passed too many good, desirable places now to go farther.” They found a spring near which they eventually built a Dutch, colonial house. The inside doors were thick heavy oak and the wide hall doors were of black walnut; colored glass, single pane windows on each side of hall doors. Wide slabs of lime rock steps at front door. This house fronted on a field but later a county road was built as the Pioneers had no time to build through swamps so made a road around head of swamp. I taught my first school at this place called “Bear School House.” And native children and young ladies especially were called “Swamp Angels.” This last day’s journey took them nine miles north of the town of Wabash and there on a rise from the spring they built a story and a half house of hewed logs in which they lived a few years before building permanently near the spring. This log building was later used as a barn. My sister Abi and I used to play here and watch the birds nest although we were terribly afraid of the green lizards. We played in Grandma’s new yard where the “La lock” swayed and Bleeding Heart was in bloom and red peonies at their best. The natives called the new house “The White House” because it was larger than any for some distance around the neighborhood and was painted white. This same swamp was one of a chain of swamps from Kankakee on down across most of the state and was in the vicinity of the swamp Gene Stratton Porter speaks of in her books, one of them “Laddie.” She did not live far from Wabash. Her brother Eugene, one of the lawyer brothers she speaks of in “Laddie” was County Superintendent when I taught in North Manchester in grade school.
Additional Information about David Hoover, Lide’s Father
David (Big Dave) Hoover was born in Stark Co., Ohio, in the year 1826, August 14. In 1836 or 1837 he with his father and family moved to Wabash Co. Indiana. There Jun 10, 1849 he married Barbara Shafer. To them were born three children, Eliza, Abi Catherine, and Joseph. In 1856 he with the family moved to Mankato, Minnesota. Emma and Ella were born there in 1857. His wife Barbara passed in February 11,1859 followed by the twin Ella in March of the same year. In March 1860 he started to seek gold in Pike’s Peak and California. He traveled with a wagon train drawn by horses. Spent two months waiting for the outfitting of the train. This was at Council Bluffs. He said that often had no water except that in the horse hoof tracks. Said he travelled on foot thirty and forty miles a day hunting game and water. He arrived at Taylorsville, Plumas County California late in the fall of the same year. Later he travelled and prospected by steamship, boat, and stage coach and on horse back, burros carrying his anvil, picks and shovels, tools for sharpening pick and shovels for miners; visited and worked in Sacremento, Virginia City, Nevada, Carson City. Worked at his trade at the Comstock mine and in it. Was in San Francisco some time and said the city was mostly built on sand dunes. Said Denver was mostly shacks. He circled most of Pike’s Peak always about forty miles from it. Suppose he tethered the horses in Buffalo Corrals built the year before. Was told the mines were worked out so passed on to California. His little daughter Abi asked how long he would be gone. He said if he went only to Pike’s Peak it would be for three months and if he went to California he would be gone three years. After ten times three years--30 years--she came from her home in Chicago to visit him at his home at Centerville, Montana and his daughter Eliza and her husband, James P. Wantz and family. Eliza with her husband and four children arrived at Dillon Montana on May 26, 1882. twenty two years after his departure for Pike’s Peak. Recognizing one another and walking into each others arms. The R.R. platform was lined with Bullion, slabs of bacon cordwood style, and other commodities. In 1907 he came to the state of Washington at or near Cashmere. He devoted his time to caring for his invalid wife. They built a room for themselves on his daughter Eliza’s home where after his passing in 1912 she cared for his wife Amanda three years. They are buried in the Cashmere cemetery. He said in (1836 or 1837) ? (1876 or 1877) (1866 or 1867)? he with George Norton, Lee Sterling, Barr Smith and wife Mary and child, came to Centerville Montana from Baker City Oregon working at his trade and the others farming. In 1872 he married Helen Amanda Thayer of Grafton, West Virginia. To them was born one child, Harry in 1874. Passed on in 1875.
Source: Eliza “Lide” (Hoover) Wantz (1850 -1941), (Okanagan, Washington), Charles E. Shafer (1867 - 1961), (Benton Harbor, Michigan), Lide’s ca 1938 Family History and Reminiscences, focusing on the 1860s and 1870s, Annotated transcription by Shafer ca 1943., Photocopies, supplied by Rae (Strickler) Underwood, (private address), to Sue W. McCormick, {August 2008}, Prime source(s); sometimes hard to read., My transcription is stored in the computer, the original and a printout are in the paper files.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Lide's Blog – Part 1
At the Second Life gathering on Sunday evening, I mentioned that I had some memoirs from the 19th century and asked the gathering how I could share them. It was suggested that I place these transcriptions into my blog. This will appear in more than one Blog.
How I Acquired the Papers
(Note: on September 9, 1943, [my 16th birthday] I came home to find that my father’s Uncle Charlie had stopped by to spend the night. He was on his way back to Benton Harbor, after visiting family out west. Uncle Charlie’s grandson was going to be stationed at Washington University as part of the army training program, and Uncle Charlie solicited family attention for Joseph Scott — who was rather shy.
Then, during the meal Uncle Charlie told us some of what he had learned about the family on that visit. My younger sister was more vocal in her fascination with his stories; Charlie told her that he would send her his transcription of these papers plus some that he already had at home in Benton Harbor.
This letter together with the accompanying papers is a follow up of that visit.)
251 Lake Ave., Benton Harbor, Mich.
Oct . 4, 1943.
Dear Rae:-
Enclosed you will find a copy of the history that you wished. I have added to it a couple of chapters that I did not have with me at your house. I hope it will give you as much pleasure to have and to read as it has been to me to help prepare it. I hope also that it maybe an incentive to you to investigate and record the history and accomplishments of your family and your relatives, both near and distant, of whom there are many. I am sure it will give you much pleasure to do so and you can have a part of making a permanent record.
Please tell your parents and your sister that I enjoyed my short visit at your home. Your Uncle Joe and Aunt Ida came over and spent a half day here while we went out and got for them peaches and other fruit.
Your Uncle
Charlie.
[Initial Note by Uncle Charlie:]
In the spring of 1938 realizing that Eliza Wantz or Lide as she was called was the oldest of grandfather Shafer’s living descendants I wrote her asking for whatever early history she might be able to give concerning the family. She replied with the following letter which she closes by saying she will send data I wish. She did prepare the data and it was awaiting me five years later but after her death when I was privileged to visit her home. The data mentioned follows this letter from her.
Chas.E.Shafer
Beyond The Mississippi
By Eliza Hoover Wantz
In 1856 my father with his wife Barbara, my mother, and three children, Eliza, nearing the age of six, Abi Catherine, aged four, and Joseph aged six months, moved from Wabash County, Indiana, from the town of Laketon where I was born, to Mankato, Minnesota.
In the party were my father’s older brother, George and family of wife, Eliza Ann (Bear) and a little son Lundy still in long clothes. (My Aunt always boasted she usually used three yards of goods in her baby dresses.) Also Thomas Jefferson aged 15, son of his first wife, and Aunt’s father Ephraim Bear. My mother’s father, Henry Shafer, and my mother’s eldest sister Catherine, (born Jan, 22,1829) and her youngest sister, Hannah, aged ten years.
Grandfather took his own team and wagon and my aunts both rode with him. And Mr.Bear had his team and wagon and Aunt Eliza rode with him; and Uncle George had his team and wagon and his son Tom rode with him and they carried the provisions and horse feed. They left in April. I well remember the day. I wanted my mother to take her wash bowl and pitcher with the pretty flowers on it. The said “no-no.” I said “Why ma,what will you bathe the baby in?” and how the trees and shrubs looked, especially the hazel bushes and wild flowers under them as we rounded the first corner out of town.
We were not bothered much by Indians, only once when one of the wagon wheels got fast in between two planks in a little bridge over a soft, muddy place. All the men put their strength to turn the wheel when some friendly Indians came up from seemingly nowhere and offered to help, but the men said “They never pulled nor lifted a pound,” but they spied a jug hanging on the wagon and took a swig but soon put it down and made a wry face,and I remember the folks laughed as of course they thought it would be whiskey. I later asked my father what was in it. He said, “Not whiskey anyway”. Though those old timers were not a stranger to its taste, most of them had it on their tables; but I have never known any of my people to over indulge.
The most terrifying incident on the way was not Indians but my little four year old sister Abi screaming, crying, and begging her father and mother to not ford the rivers. Such anguish. I thought my parents cruel to not give a thought. They only begged her to keep still as it was spring time and all streams were full by May. They were all intent on getting safely across. Those old Conestoga1 wagon beds were made boat shape to better ford the streams.
The only time I remember of seeing Indians on the whole trip was one day on the prairie. One wagon, I think it was the one my father was driving one wheel of the wagon stuck between two timbers. May have been a small corduroy bridge across a small stream. Any way all men came running to help and soon some Indians came “out of nowhere” and put their hands to help. The men said “the Indians did not pull nor lift a pound.” I remember going into one cemetery to sit and rest with my aunt and her little sister--was a peaceful and quiet place with trees and shrubs. Most people did this instead of a park--did not have many parks at this time.
Every night Ephraim Bear sang his little grandchild to sleep with Swanee River and other darkie tunes. He was a Kentuckian.
One night when all were in their first sleep some bandits or horse thieves were routed by the men just in time to save their horses as they already had them rounded up and were making away with them. They were saved only by the dogs barking. Aunt Eliza had a lap dog she brought with her and as soon as he barked it awakened the big dog who was always tired at night after travelling all day after the teams or wagons.
It was after this that we had the hail storm between Winona and Mankato.. A severe hail storm came up between Winona and Mankato. They unhitched the horses. My mother wanted my father to bring the horses heads into the wagon cover but he said it was not necessary as they knew how to protect themselves. That fall father was travelling down to ------------- by coach (stage) and one man said, “I wonder what made those big holes in the clay” and father said “I know. Last spring when we were coming out here from Indiana a terrible hail storm--balls as big as goose eggs fell and of course left these holes.”
Uncle George and his son Thomas or Tom went around by Chicago to see if they might like to settle in that vicinity, but came along with the rest in a day or two. Later they went on and had everything ready near Mankato, just on out of the town a little farther on through the town. We staid there until late fall and then moved into town. My father soon got work at his trade while we staid out on the land we pre-empted.
Suppose we drove on through Mankato to the timber where my father took up a pre-emption. On arriving we lived in a cabin, no windows, a large door fastened at opposite corners with large pegs in auger holes. Enough floor for the beds, and the stove and table in daytime, and at night the beds were put on the floor.
NOTES (from SWM):
The transcription was made on a typewriter; Rae was sent the bottom (second or third) carbon copy from this typing. The typewriter keys were not clean, so some of this original transcription is very hard to read. My sister made a copy of these typescript carbons at Kinkos. It is the Kinko’s copy that I have in my possession. The original carbon copies and the Kinko copies are both very difficult to read, so I made an electronic transcription on my computer. What appears in the blog comes from that transcription.
For the purpose of these blogs, I have decided to rearrange Lide’s memoirs into a more connected narrative. The transcription in our archives (as well as the Kinko copies) remain in the original order as closely as Rae and I could determine that order back in 1943.
In the next post, we will read Lide’s descriptions of her short time in Mankato.
Source: Eliza “Lide” (Hoover) Wantz (1850 -1941), (Okanagan, Washington), Charles E. Shafer (1867 - 1961), (Benton Harbor, Michigan), Lide’s ca 1938 Family History and Reminiscenses, focusing on the 1860s and 1870s, Annotated transcription by Shafer ca 1943., Photocopies, supplied by Rae (Strickler) Underwood, (private address), to Sue W. McCormick, {August 2008}, Prime source(s); sometimes hard to read., My transcription is stored in the computer, the original and a printout are in the paper files.
Here's to facing our frustrations and sharing our successes,
FrustratedSue
How I Acquired the Papers
(Note: on September 9, 1943, [my 16th birthday] I came home to find that my father’s Uncle Charlie had stopped by to spend the night. He was on his way back to Benton Harbor, after visiting family out west. Uncle Charlie’s grandson was going to be stationed at Washington University as part of the army training program, and Uncle Charlie solicited family attention for Joseph Scott — who was rather shy.
Then, during the meal Uncle Charlie told us some of what he had learned about the family on that visit. My younger sister was more vocal in her fascination with his stories; Charlie told her that he would send her his transcription of these papers plus some that he already had at home in Benton Harbor.
This letter together with the accompanying papers is a follow up of that visit.)
251 Lake Ave., Benton Harbor, Mich.
Oct . 4, 1943.
Dear Rae:-
Enclosed you will find a copy of the history that you wished. I have added to it a couple of chapters that I did not have with me at your house. I hope it will give you as much pleasure to have and to read as it has been to me to help prepare it. I hope also that it maybe an incentive to you to investigate and record the history and accomplishments of your family and your relatives, both near and distant, of whom there are many. I am sure it will give you much pleasure to do so and you can have a part of making a permanent record.
Please tell your parents and your sister that I enjoyed my short visit at your home. Your Uncle Joe and Aunt Ida came over and spent a half day here while we went out and got for them peaches and other fruit.
Your Uncle
Charlie.
[Initial Note by Uncle Charlie:]
In the spring of 1938 realizing that Eliza Wantz or Lide as she was called was the oldest of grandfather Shafer’s living descendants I wrote her asking for whatever early history she might be able to give concerning the family. She replied with the following letter which she closes by saying she will send data I wish. She did prepare the data and it was awaiting me five years later but after her death when I was privileged to visit her home. The data mentioned follows this letter from her.
Chas.E.Shafer
Beyond The Mississippi
By Eliza Hoover Wantz
In 1856 my father with his wife Barbara, my mother, and three children, Eliza, nearing the age of six, Abi Catherine, aged four, and Joseph aged six months, moved from Wabash County, Indiana, from the town of Laketon where I was born, to Mankato, Minnesota.
In the party were my father’s older brother, George and family of wife, Eliza Ann (Bear) and a little son Lundy still in long clothes. (My Aunt always boasted she usually used three yards of goods in her baby dresses.) Also Thomas Jefferson aged 15, son of his first wife, and Aunt’s father Ephraim Bear. My mother’s father, Henry Shafer, and my mother’s eldest sister Catherine, (born Jan, 22,1829) and her youngest sister, Hannah, aged ten years.
Grandfather took his own team and wagon and my aunts both rode with him. And Mr.Bear had his team and wagon and Aunt Eliza rode with him; and Uncle George had his team and wagon and his son Tom rode with him and they carried the provisions and horse feed. They left in April. I well remember the day. I wanted my mother to take her wash bowl and pitcher with the pretty flowers on it. The said “no-no.” I said “Why ma,what will you bathe the baby in?” and how the trees and shrubs looked, especially the hazel bushes and wild flowers under them as we rounded the first corner out of town.
We were not bothered much by Indians, only once when one of the wagon wheels got fast in between two planks in a little bridge over a soft, muddy place. All the men put their strength to turn the wheel when some friendly Indians came up from seemingly nowhere and offered to help, but the men said “They never pulled nor lifted a pound,” but they spied a jug hanging on the wagon and took a swig but soon put it down and made a wry face,and I remember the folks laughed as of course they thought it would be whiskey. I later asked my father what was in it. He said, “Not whiskey anyway”. Though those old timers were not a stranger to its taste, most of them had it on their tables; but I have never known any of my people to over indulge.
The most terrifying incident on the way was not Indians but my little four year old sister Abi screaming, crying, and begging her father and mother to not ford the rivers. Such anguish. I thought my parents cruel to not give a thought. They only begged her to keep still as it was spring time and all streams were full by May. They were all intent on getting safely across. Those old Conestoga1 wagon beds were made boat shape to better ford the streams.
The only time I remember of seeing Indians on the whole trip was one day on the prairie. One wagon, I think it was the one my father was driving one wheel of the wagon stuck between two timbers. May have been a small corduroy bridge across a small stream. Any way all men came running to help and soon some Indians came “out of nowhere” and put their hands to help. The men said “the Indians did not pull nor lift a pound.” I remember going into one cemetery to sit and rest with my aunt and her little sister--was a peaceful and quiet place with trees and shrubs. Most people did this instead of a park--did not have many parks at this time.
Every night Ephraim Bear sang his little grandchild to sleep with Swanee River and other darkie tunes. He was a Kentuckian.
One night when all were in their first sleep some bandits or horse thieves were routed by the men just in time to save their horses as they already had them rounded up and were making away with them. They were saved only by the dogs barking. Aunt Eliza had a lap dog she brought with her and as soon as he barked it awakened the big dog who was always tired at night after travelling all day after the teams or wagons.
It was after this that we had the hail storm between Winona and Mankato.. A severe hail storm came up between Winona and Mankato. They unhitched the horses. My mother wanted my father to bring the horses heads into the wagon cover but he said it was not necessary as they knew how to protect themselves. That fall father was travelling down to ------------- by coach (stage) and one man said, “I wonder what made those big holes in the clay” and father said “I know. Last spring when we were coming out here from Indiana a terrible hail storm--balls as big as goose eggs fell and of course left these holes.”
Uncle George and his son Thomas or Tom went around by Chicago to see if they might like to settle in that vicinity, but came along with the rest in a day or two. Later they went on and had everything ready near Mankato, just on out of the town a little farther on through the town. We staid there until late fall and then moved into town. My father soon got work at his trade while we staid out on the land we pre-empted.
Suppose we drove on through Mankato to the timber where my father took up a pre-emption. On arriving we lived in a cabin, no windows, a large door fastened at opposite corners with large pegs in auger holes. Enough floor for the beds, and the stove and table in daytime, and at night the beds were put on the floor.
NOTES (from SWM):
The transcription was made on a typewriter; Rae was sent the bottom (second or third) carbon copy from this typing. The typewriter keys were not clean, so some of this original transcription is very hard to read. My sister made a copy of these typescript carbons at Kinkos. It is the Kinko’s copy that I have in my possession. The original carbon copies and the Kinko copies are both very difficult to read, so I made an electronic transcription on my computer. What appears in the blog comes from that transcription.
For the purpose of these blogs, I have decided to rearrange Lide’s memoirs into a more connected narrative. The transcription in our archives (as well as the Kinko copies) remain in the original order as closely as Rae and I could determine that order back in 1943.
In the next post, we will read Lide’s descriptions of her short time in Mankato.
Source: Eliza “Lide” (Hoover) Wantz (1850 -1941), (Okanagan, Washington), Charles E. Shafer (1867 - 1961), (Benton Harbor, Michigan), Lide’s ca 1938 Family History and Reminiscenses, focusing on the 1860s and 1870s, Annotated transcription by Shafer ca 1943., Photocopies, supplied by Rae (Strickler) Underwood, (private address), to Sue W. McCormick, {August 2008}, Prime source(s); sometimes hard to read., My transcription is stored in the computer, the original and a printout are in the paper files.
Here's to facing our frustrations and sharing our successes,
FrustratedSue
Monday, July 4, 2011
William T. Dorrance Has a Document!
Inspired by the things I've been learning from Michael John Neill's "CaseFile Clues," from Lisa Louise Cooke's "Google Earth for Genealogy" CDs, and from some of the ideas we have discussed during the gatherings about Inferential Genealogy, I changed my approach to this problem.
I have downloaded from the General Land Office portion of the Bureau of Land Management internet site copies of all the information pertaining to my great grandfather's land in Jefferson County, Missouri.
I first mentioned this great grandfather in my blog of March 8* of this year. He existed only as a character in family stories. As a beginning genealogist, I could find no records for him anywhere. The family stories said he was a soldier. Efforts to verify that found me one or two soldiers by that name, but no clear way to identify "my" William T. Dorrance.
The G.L.O. records include the image of the scripwarrant issued under the act of 1850 "to William T. Dorrence Private in Lieutenant Scott's company Fourth Regiment United States Infantry Florida War." On Oct 1, 1852 my great grandfather received a land patent for 160 acres in Jefferson County, Missouri. Now I have two time periods and a verified place of service on which to base further research.
The only "new" technique involved came from Lisa Cooke's approach to the G.L.O. From the "Historical Atlas Map of Jefferson County, Missouri, 1876" I located the land owned by William Dorrance (spelled Dorrence as in the G.L.O. papers). I then used the land description from the map in this atlas to get the land patent details from the G.L.O.
I know that I'm still very far from having made connections between me and my great grandfather that meet Genealogical Proof Standards. And I still have no clues to his childhood. I need to do more research in Jefferson county; such as "What happened to half the land?" "What happened to his sons after he and his wife died?" I need to follow up on the military information. And so on, … and so on.
LOTS of work ahead. But it looks easier now. William T. Dorrance has a document!
Here's to facing our frustrations,
(not so)FrustratedSue
*Sorry. I haven't learned how to turn this reference into a hyperlink.
I have downloaded from the General Land Office portion of the Bureau of Land Management internet site copies of all the information pertaining to my great grandfather's land in Jefferson County, Missouri.
I first mentioned this great grandfather in my blog of March 8* of this year. He existed only as a character in family stories. As a beginning genealogist, I could find no records for him anywhere. The family stories said he was a soldier. Efforts to verify that found me one or two soldiers by that name, but no clear way to identify "my" William T. Dorrance.
The G.L.O. records include the image of the scripwarrant issued under the act of 1850 "to William T. Dorrence Private in Lieutenant Scott's company Fourth Regiment United States Infantry Florida War." On Oct 1, 1852 my great grandfather received a land patent for 160 acres in Jefferson County, Missouri. Now I have two time periods and a verified place of service on which to base further research.
The only "new" technique involved came from Lisa Cooke's approach to the G.L.O. From the "Historical Atlas Map of Jefferson County, Missouri, 1876" I located the land owned by William Dorrance (spelled Dorrence as in the G.L.O. papers). I then used the land description from the map in this atlas to get the land patent details from the G.L.O.
I know that I'm still very far from having made connections between me and my great grandfather that meet Genealogical Proof Standards. And I still have no clues to his childhood. I need to do more research in Jefferson county; such as "What happened to half the land?" "What happened to his sons after he and his wife died?" I need to follow up on the military information. And so on, … and so on.
LOTS of work ahead. But it looks easier now. William T. Dorrance has a document!
Here's to facing our frustrations,
(not so)FrustratedSue
*Sorry. I haven't learned how to turn this reference into a hyperlink.
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