EARLY CHILDHOOD - Part 6, Several Moves

Timelines and Stories is telling the story of Alfred Moehlmann's (b. 1894) life as he told it in his story titled "As I Was".  You can start at the beginning here:  The story continues and it is 1903:

During these childhood days, Indianapolis had an epidemic of Small Pox.  For some unknown reason, we kids were instructed not to breathe when passing a house that had a sign denoting this dreadful disease.  Some place along this early age my parents lost our home and we moved to 1627 English avenue.  This happened about 1903.  This was a double house or duplex.  About this time I remember that here was a lot of bickering and quarreling by my parents.  About this time Uncles Bill and Dietz brought 2 horses to Indianapolis to sell.  They rode one and the other was hitched to a cart.  It took 3 days for the trip and they did make a sale. 

 It was around this time that my mother met a Mrs. Bentle who lived on English avenue a few doors west of us and seemed to have a lot influence on my mother.  Her husband was an engineer on the Big Four R.R. and pulled the well known train called the Knickerbocker.  They had a daughter my age by the name of Opal.  I can remember her by her long curls.  The Bentle’s were divorced shortly after we moved to English avenue.  A lucky break seemed to come our way about this time.  A family by the name of Whalen who lived 2 doors west of us were expecting a baby and they hired my mother to take care of the mother and baby when it arrived.  Mr. Whalen was boss engineer of the Big Four R.R. and had not only a responsible job but he had also a lot of prestige with the rail road.  He also was an English Bull Dog fancier and they staged many dog fights in the neighborhood.  These dogs were rough on cats and they didn't survive very long in the neighborhood.  After the baby was born they gave my mother 10⁰⁰ for her services.  That sounded like a mountain of money in our household.  Mr. Whalen also asked how much money Dad made and told my mother he would give Dad a job where he would make more money if he would come the first day of the month.  Dad was very reluctant to quit the Pennsylvania Freight House.  It was the only job he ever had and seemed to think it was the only work he could do, but he finally decided to make the change after a lot of pushing by my mother.  Dad had no idea what his wages would be, but what a surprise, when Dad brought his pay envelope home and got 64⁰⁰ per month. 

He worked in the Big Round House and was called a “hosler.”  It was always a delight to go to the Round House for Dad would pilot the engines to the turn table and out to the yards.  Of course I would get to ride with him.  Also when the new locomotive call “Monkey Motion” made its debut, I got to see the first one.  The old type locomotive had one cylinder on each side and the “Monkey” had 2 cylinders on each side.  While all this was going on Mrs. Bentle got some kind of divorce settlement and evidently got some cash money for she bought a restaurant and candy store on So. Delaware street just off McCarty street and close to the Eli Lilly Co.  We soon moved to Madison avenue, close to the Bentle establishment and mother worked for her.  Relations at home became bad and finally my mother and father came to the “parting of the ways.”  This happened in 1907. "

I decided to follow a rabbit trail and see what I could find out about the family with the girl that had the curls that so impressed my grandfather.  It took a little bit to find the family.  Their name is actually spelled Bentel and an Indianapolis  directory on  Ancestry.com gave me the full name and address - Louis D Bentel, 1523 English Avenue.  Looking on Google maps shows that it is still a residential area but this particular address is a vacant lot between two houses. I did find in the Indianapolis Sun newspaper on Aug 18, 1900 L.D. Bentel took a building permit for a frame home value $700.  I then found Opal Bentel in the 1910 census.  She is listed as the 14 year old step daughter to Charles E. Moody and his wife is Margaret J. Moody. Charles is a native of Canada and working as the superintendent at a roofing company and Margaret is not employed.  Looks like she no longer has the candy store restaurant business but gained a new husband. Now that I knew Opal's mother's name I looked in the directory and found that the she had lived at 807 S. Delaware in 1906 and in 1907 her ex-husband Louis D. Bentel is living at 309 N. Alabama. Next I found Opal in the 1916 Indianapolis directory listing her as a clerk. She is next in the Indianapolis directory in 1919 as the assistant cashier at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and residing at the Seminole Hotel at 920 N. Alabama.  I can't resist.  I had to look and see if the building is still there.  And it is and it looks like a revitalized area. The top picture is what it looked lke in 1932 and the bottom in 2014.

Seminole Hotel in 2014 - now Seminole Apartments

Next I found Opal in the 1920 census.  She had made a huge move all the way cross country to Los Angeles, California.  She is now listed as Mary Opal Bentel and is a bill checker for a tire and rubber company.  Looks like maybe her employer transferred her. Opal has her mother living with her.  Her mother's name in this census is Marguerite J. Bentel and she is a widow (wonder why she isn't using the last name Moody) and working as a corsettiere at a ready to wear shop. She's selling corsets. In 1940 Opal is 45 years old and has married and is no longer employed.  Her husband is Stanton Swartz and is a switch man on the railroad. Living with them is Opal's mother, now 65 years old and not employed.  I then found a record for Marguerite Josephine Bentel on FindAGrave showing she died in 1959 and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.  Her son-in-law Stanton is also buried there, dying in 1947.  But I did not find Opal there.

While I was on the rabbit trail, I looked for the Whalen family that Matilda helped out after the birth of their baby.  And there in the directory was Joseph M. Whalen at 1623 English Avenue and here are the two homes.  

The white house on the right is where the Whalen's lived and the house to the left of it is where Alfred and his parents lived.  Alfred's home is a duplex It's hard to see but there is another door on the left side of the house.   Joseph  Whalen was living there from 1904 through 1907 according to the directories and was listed as foreman on the CCC & St.L Ry. On Google books I found one titled "Railway & Locomotive Engineering Journal" from December of 1903 that stated, "Mr. Joseph M. Whalen who formerly held the position of general foreman at the St. Louis Division shops on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis at Mattoon, Ill, has been promoted to position of general foreman at Indianapolis, Ind.  He has been succeeded by his brother James F. Whalen."  I didn't find anything else about this family.  Mr. Whalen must have been grateful for the help of Alfred's mother. That must have played into the offering to Alfred's father of a job.  But what a pay increase.  Alfred mentioned earlier that his dad's pay was $28 per month, and now he's getting $64. Maybe this increase is what led to another move - this time to 905 Madison Ave. This area is no longer a residential area.

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This is the second time Alfred talks about going to work with his father.  He obviously enjoyed the locomotives and spending time with his dad.  Here is an article about the "monkey motion" valve on the steam engines.

Today's story ends on a sad note.  It appears that neither the additional income nor the move to another home solved the problems in the marriage. So what happens next?