#52 Ancestors Week 17 - Prosper - Frederick Henry William Moehlmann

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has a weekly challenge to write the stories of your ancestors. This is week #17 and the suggested theme is PROSPER. I am highlighting my great great grandfather Frederick Henry William Moehlmann.

I have written about my 2x great grandfather before but it was in relation to having a long marriage.  This week I want to talk about his successes. I so admire all of my immigrant ancestors who had the courage to travel to new lands, seeking their fortune.  Frederick and his wife Ida Sophia came to the US in September of 1867.

I don't really know the circumstances around the decision to leave Beckedorf, Germany and settle in Indianapolis, Indiana.  There had been recent changes in the government with the formation of The North German Federation after the Austro-Prusian War ended in July 1866. The following year a new constitution was adopted.  I am just beginning to research the history of Beckedorf, where he was born, but it certainly seems logical that all the political changes may have had an impact on Frederick.  

One think I know for sure it that the decision for Sophia to travel with him was most likely last minute. There was a notation made in the marriage record at the church in Meinsen on 15 Aug 1867 stating:  "Very short notice was given for intended marriage. They married at 7 in the evening because their ship is going to America."  Also the manifest for the ship "Hansa" which arrived in New York on 2 Sep 1867, listed Ida with her maiden name of Krentler.

Passenger List for the "Hansa" 

Just three years later in the 1870 census, Frederick is working as a railroad laborer and has real estate valued at $1800 and they have two children. By 1880 the family has grown to six children and Frederick is still working as a laborer. According to an 1890 Indianapolis directory Frederick is working for Hendrickson, Kepler & Co., a hat and glove maker. By 1910, 72 year old Frederick is the owner of a cigar stand and owns his home free and clear.  

Frederick Moehlmann - Death 1911
Indianapolist Star April 21, 1911

Here is the transcript of his obituary:

                             "DADDY" MOEHLMANN IS DEAD

                                 KEPT STAND IN COURT HOUSE

 Paralysis Attack Causes Death of

 Familiar Figure, Whose Name Was

    Known to Few.

 ---------------------------------

Frederick W. Moehlmann, known universally as "Daddy" at the Court House where he had kept a cigar stand is dead.  Few of his many patrons knew his right name, and as he was away from his stand for only a little more than twenty-four hours before he died, few knew of his illness.  He became ill Tuesday afternoon and when he made his last sale, a 5-cent piece of chocolate, he was hardly able to make change.

  He protested at that time he was only slightly ill.  His little grandson,who had gone to the  Court House in the afternoon had to assist him in locking the case which contains the cigars, tobacco and candies.  Shortly after Mr. Moehlmann reached home he suffered a stroke of paralysis, which resulted in his death at 10 o'clock yesterday morning at his home, 607 McCarty street.

                                       WAS AT STAND DAILY.

 "Daddy" as he was called by every one about the Court House for the last two years had become almost a fixture.  He opened his stand regularly with the offices and courtrooms and closed promptly at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. He was always ready to exchange a pleasant word with his customers.

Mr. Moehlmann was born in Germany seventy-three year years ago and came to Indianapolis forty-three years ago.  For twenty-five years he was connected with a hat company.  About two years ago he purchased the Court House cigar stand.  He is survived by two sons, Frederick and Lewis Moehlmann, and two daughters, Miss Mathilda Moehlmann and Mrs. Anna Lichtsinn.  The funeral will be conducted at 2:15 o'clock Sunday afternoon at St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church.  Burial will be made in the Lutheran Cemetery.

I think Frederick lived the American dream that allowed him to assimilate in a new culture, raise a family, buy a home, and eventually buy his own small business.  

My Last Two Years in Single Life

We are back to Alfred Moehlmann's story As I Was. Alfred has just been discharged from the service and is back in Linton, Indiana. It is January 1919 and Alfred will be 25 in October.  He is making plans for his future.

"I got back home to Linton from the Army on a Sunday night.  A lot of people rode the trains at that time and there was a big crowd at the I.C. Depot that night, not to see me, but seeing off and others arriving, but befor the train stopped I saw Mom, Aunt Grace and Uncle Russell Pope.  The some reason when I got off the train, Aunt Grace was there and gave me a big “smooch” which Mom didn’t like at all.  Well the Big Studebaker Touring car was here and with the driver being Mom we soon were home.  We had a lot of things to talk about and Uncle Russell left a short while befor me.  Then Mom flashed the letter in front of me that the girl from Asbury Park, N.J. had written her and I had some stammering and explaining to do. 

  After being home a week or so I began making contacts for a job.  My old jobs were filled and the promises that you would get your old job back when the war was over was forgotten,  So I got a job at Black Creek No. 2 mine known as North Linton as a coal miner.  I didn’t like the low coal but kept my eyes open for something better.  While working there Uncle Russell and I took Mom, Aunt Grace and Aunt Tress down in the mine and showed them the inside for their first time.  They were a sore bunch of girls after walking and crawling a mile or so to where we worked. 

The 20^th of June 1919 I got a job of keeping books for the Gladstone Coal Co., at Petersburg, Ind.  But I only stayed there 4 months.  First it was too far from home and secondly they wanted me to weigh coal at the mine and work on the books at night and idle days.  I quit and came back to Linton.  (Befor I went to Petersburg, in fact befor I started at North Linton I bought a driving horse, Jeff.  He was a fractious animal and you could hardly get in the buggy until he started running  A few months latter I bought a Model T Ford Touring car 565³⁷ – no starter or heater – (30 x 3 tires in front & 30 x 3 ½ rear – non demountable rims.)  I again got a job at North Linton mine but had a much better place on the 7 South off the main East with coal about 4 ft. high and made pretty good money. 

Mom began showing signs of wondering if our steady company meant anything, anyhow she had a perfect right to wonder.  Finally we decided on getting married and set the date for March 26, 1921 about a year off.  Our idea of setting the date a year off I felt like I needed more money to start house keeping.  We told Aunt Grace and Uncle Russell about our plan and they wanted us to wait until May and have a double wedding, but we decided on our date.

In the spring of 1920 Albert Kramer and I got a job at Tower Hill Mine at Midland.  I was the first time I ever worked in high coal.  The seam of coal was from 6 to 8 feet high.  The mine had not been in operation for many years and we got jobs as “Jerrymen” really ordinary labor at 7⁵⁰ per day.  We had good steady work even on Sundays and I built my bank account up considerably that year.  The close association that the four us – Mom, Aunt Grace, Uncle Russell and I had made us all very close to one another and this could be defined as “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”  This was not a passionate love but a love that kept us very close to each other both during courtship and after we were married.  I can’t remember too much of our courtship – I guess we were mostly Parlor Sitters which we shared most all the time with Aunt Grace and Uncle Russell.  Of course we started “sparking” in a horse and buggy and wound up in a Model T Ford.  One Sunday the girls arranged for a picnic supper.  Mom drove the family Studebaker and we took a drive that afternoon and went to Freedom on what now is State Road 67.  At that time it was just a gravel road.  Back in those times you always had spark plug trouble and everybody carried a supply.  We had it on the outing climbing a long hill.  It was up to Uncle Russell and me to do the changing – Soon a crowd surrounded us.  I think they must of thought we were “Big Shots” driving a big 7 passenger Studebaker or the 2 good looking girls in the car was the attraction.  (It is to remember that a Studebaker back in those days was a car of distinction and only prominent people could afford one.)  When we got back home, Wayne who was quite young then, checked the speedometer and told his Dad how far we had driven.

Alfred & Helen on left and Russell & Grace on right c. 1920.
Both pictures taken in front of the Bovenschen family home.
Moehlmann Family Collection

 During my last two years of single life it wasn't all courtship and work for I got a mania of wanting to see the 500 mile automobile races at Indianapolis on Decoration Day – Albert Kramer and I went to see the races in 1919 in his Saxon 6 cyl. Touring car.  We left Linton around midnight and got to the speedway at 5 am.  It was a long dusty trip – All gravel roads. In those days we went through Martinsville; the following year we went with some fellow from Midland who worked at Tower Hill Mine in a Dort car.  Also in 1919 Albert Kramer and I took a sudden notion while working at North Linton to go to the State Fair.  The “Turn” which means in the mine cars was slow so we talked the Mule skinner (driver) to give us a couple of “fast” cars – we loaded them quickly, was washed up by noon, went home, changed clothes, back to Linton caught a train at 1:15 (over what is now the St. Paul R.R.) to Beehunter and a Pennsy train from there to Indianapolis.  The following year Sheldon Goodman and I went to the Fair for a couple of days.  He like myself liked horse racing (harness) and we sure saw a lot of it the 3 days we were there.  On our trip home (the I.C.R.R.) I told him that Mom and I were going to get married the following March and I can’t help but see the expression on his face – Sheldon had a deep affection for Mom and I was in a sense sorry for him for he was one of my best friends. 

 Sometime during the fall of 1920 my mother went through a very serious operation at St. Anthonys Hospital at Terre Haute.  Mrs. Bovenschen went up with me the day of surgery and after the operation Dr. Knoefel told me her chances of recover was far from good.  I made several trips up there on a train and one day the Doctor asked me if I could bring some wine up for the following Sunday.  This was during the Prohibition and liquors were hard to get, but he knew Uncle Dietz made a keg of grape wine every year.  Uncle Dietz was out of it however so I went to Jake Cerar for I knew he also made wine.  He didn’t have but a little on hand and was reluctant to let me have any but when I told what I wanted it for he gave me a quart and would have no pay for it and said if I needed more he would get it for me.  It was elderberry wine and I carefully packed it in a grip and took it on the train to Terre Haute and the hospital, with a feeling that I would be picked up for transporting alcoholic beverages.  When I arrived at the hospital Dr. Knoefel was in the room and the first thing he asked me if I had brought the wine.  He had the nurse get a small wine glass, poured out a small quantity offered it to my mother and when she said she couldn’t drink the stuff, he gave it to the nurse.  Then he said, “Tillie, I knew you couldn’t drink it, I wanted it for myself, because the Shriners are getting together this afternoon and I didn’t have anything for my part of the drinks.” 

 While my mother was in the hospital, Uncle Dietz and I “batched.”  One incident in cooking experience – made a pot of rice – too much rice – wound up with more on the stove and the floor than in the pot.  After my mother came back home, we hired Ethel Higar to keep house for us. 

A week befor our wedding day I had to do the hardest job in my life.  I had to face Mom's father and ask for her hand.  I didn’t know why I feared that moment, when I was well aware that he was a stern man but a just and honorable man.  He acted like he was surprised but admitted that he detected evidence that we planned marriage."

Alfred has taken advantage of his last years as a single man by attending auto and horse racing events in Indianapolis

Howdy Wilcox won the Indianapolis 500 in 1919 driving a Packard.

In those days the mechanic actually rode with the driver. Wilcox's mechanic in 1919 was Leo Banks. In 1920 the race was won by  Gaston Chevrolet with John Bresnahan as mechanic. It was Gaston's older brother Louis that founded the Chevrolet car company. Gaston broke the dominance of European cars winning the 500 when he did it in a Frontenac, a company he and his brother started. He also was the first to win without making a tire change.  Both of these drivers lost their lives in crashes during a race while still young men. 

1920 Winner of Indianapolis 500 Gaston Chevrolet

Besides enjoying car racing, Alfred also enjoyed horse racing.  He talked about the the horse track in New Jersey and now he is going to the Indiana State Fair to see the horse races.

The surgery of Alfred's mother left him and his uncle "Dietz" on their own. Will her long recovery have an impact on his upcoming marriage?  

St.  Anthony's Hospital, Terre Haute, Indiana
from http://brisray.com/th/tpcards200.htm

Alfred tells us about talking with William Bovenschen about his and Helen's future plans just a week before the planned marriage. It's hard to believe that the happy couple has kept their plans secret for a year.  

Recap 1915-1920

Alfred's single days are about over.  While being drafted into the Army during World War I, his service was all state side.  He is now back in Linton, Indiana and making plans for the future. Before we move on to his next section, let's recap.  Below is a short timeline of the last five years of Alfred's life and some of the other events going on in the world. 

TIMELINE
ALFRED MOEHLMANN	Year	WORLDWIDE
-Worked in the coal mines -Started seeing Helen Bovenschen	1915	-First phone call from New York to San Francisco -Sinking of the Lusitania by Germany -First transatlantic radio/phone communication – Virginia to Paris -One millionth Model T produced
-Attends Central Business College in Indianapolis -First time voting for president	1916	-Norman Rockwell begins illustration for Saturday Evening Post -Average price for new car $600 -First woman elected to House of Representative
-Begins working for Vandalia Coal Company as cost accountant -Registers for the draft	1917	-U.S. Virgin Islands purchased from Denmark for $25 million
-Drafted into the Army Signal Corps and stationed in Vermont -Grandmother Tendick dies	1918	-Time zones and daylight savings time official established -Air mail service started by Post Office
-Discharged from military	1919	-18th Amendment ratified – “Prohibition” -Pop up toaster invented
-Working in the coal mines -Sets wedding date for March 21, 1921	1920	-Railroad industry peaks - First commercial radio station in Pittsburg -Invention of Band-Aids -Indiana Bell established to provide phone service in Indiana

It is now 1920 and Alfred is 25 and living with his mother and uncle.  He is working as a coal miner and saving for up for his approaching marriage.

1920 Census of Stockton Township, Greene Co., Indiana, Diedrick Tendick family

His betrothed, Helen Bovenschen, age 23, is living at home with her parents, four sisters, brother, and her 78 year old grandmother. 

1920 Census of Wright Township, Green Co., Indiana, William Bovenschen family

Helen's oldest sister Anna was married in 1913 and her next oldest, Grace, is planning her wedding for just two months after Helen's. Grace is a high school teacher. Helen's two youngest siblings, Ruth and Wayne, are still attending school.  Her grandmother, Margaret Schmidt Bovenschen, has been a widow since 1911, when her husband Dedrick died at age 78. 

So we are about to move on to Alfred's next stage. We know that his parent's failed marriage has made a huge impression on him.  He has had periods of feeling inferior and now he about to marry the daughter of one of the most respected and successful men in the county.  

#52 Ancestors - Live Long - Matilda Moehlmann 97 years 9 months

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has a weekly challenge to write the stories of your ancestors. This is week #16 and the suggested theme is LIVE LONG. I am highlighting my great grandmother Matilda Tendick Moehllmann.

Matilda is the only great grandparent that I ever knew.  She was born in Neurkirchen, Rheinland, Prussia in 1872.  At the age of 16 she immigrated to the United States with her parents Peter and Katrina Tendick and five of her siblings.  Two older brothers, already married, stayed behind in Germany.  The family settled on a farm in Greene County, Indiana among a large settlement of German immigrants.  

Matilda had an older brother and sister and a younger brother and two younger sisters.  The family was living in a two room house. I don't know how long she stayed on the farm, most likely not very long.  Instead she moved 65 miles away to the big city of Indianapolis. It was there she met her husband, Frederick Henry August Moehlmann and they were married in 1893 just two months after her 21st birthday.  

Matilda Tendick about 1890
Moehlmann Family Collection

Eleven months later, her only son, Alfred, was born. Frederick worked for the Railroad and soon they bought a four room house on Spann Avenue in Indianapolis.

Matilda & Alfred Moehlmann in front on their home on Spann Ave. 1900
from Moehlmann Family Collection

According to Alfred there was a lot of quarreling in the home and in 1907 the marriage ended in divorce.  Alfred was sent to live with his grandparents on the farm and Matilda stayed and worked in Indianapolis for a while. In 1909 her father died and by 1910 she is living with her mother, two brothers, a sister, and son Alfred on the old homestead.

For a while Matilda worked as a domestic in the home of a prominent doctor in the area. In 1918 she is once again living at home and caring for her ailing mother. Her son Alfred was in the Army and stationed in Vermont when he was called home September of 1918 due to the health of his grandmother. 

Alfred and mother Matilda (Tendick) Moehlmann Sep 1918
from Moehlann Family Collection

Matilda's mother died Oct. 1, 1918 at the age of 80.  In 1920 Matilda is still living on the family homestead with her younger brother Diedrick and son Alfred. In the fall of that year Matilda was ill and ultimately had surgery in Terre Haute.  Alfred was told that her chances of recovery were not at all guaranteed. She did recover, but it was a slow recovery and Alfred and Deidrich hired someone to the housework. In March of 1921 Alfred married Helen Bovenschen.  Since Matilda was still recovering the newlyweds moved in with Matilda and Dietrich.  Alfred was concerned about this arrangement "because of her temperament", referring to his mother.   It lasted until November of that year and then Alfred and Helen set up housekeeping in their own home.

Matilda became a grandmother in January 1922.  Then again in 1923 and 1924 and 1927. In 1930 she was still living with her brother Dedtrich on the farm. Her last grandchild was born in 1935.

Mathilda Margaret Tendick Moehlmann c. 1935
Moehlmann Family Collection

This is the same farm that she was living on when I have my first memory of her sometime in the mid 1950's.  I remember the kitchen being on the back of the house and there was an old fashioned well just outside the back door. Now Matilda was a small woman, very thin and not very tall.  None the less I was scared of her. Well actually I was scared of her shoes.  She wore black boots that laced half way up her leg. I think it was the association with the witches in the "Wizard of Oz".   Also she had a very thick German accent which I was not accustomed to.

Our family moved from Indiana to Florida when I was nine. I don't remember seeing her too many times after that. I know that by the early 1960's she was in a nursing home.  In 1960 my grandparents spent the winter in Florida and it was touch and go whether they would come due to Matilda's health.

Back Row: John Cerar (Gertie's husband) Dietrich Tendick, Alfred Moehlmann
Front  Row: Tillman Tendick, Bill Tendick, Matilda Tendick Moehlmann, Sophie Tendick Nolting, Gertie Tendick Cerar
taken c. 1950
from Moehlmann Family Collection

All of Matilda's siblings preceded her in death. Bill in 1953 at age 88, Tillman in 1957 age 87, Gertrude in 1960 at age 84, Diedrick in 1864 age 84, and Sophie died just two week prior to Matilda at age 87. Matilda died February 18, 1970 at age 97 years 9 months and 2 days.

from Linton Daily Citizen
February 18, 1970

I have a very one sided view of my great grandmother - mostly through the eyes of my grandfather. And that relationship between mother and son was rather rocky.  There was a part of her eulogy from Rev. Stepler that reminds us of others views "I spoke to several of her old friends this week.  They recounted how Tillie liked doing things at the church - preparing food, serving it, quilting and just plain visiting. These were the wistful remembrances of the old ladies transcending the years when they were young, handsome and energetic."

Matilda Tendick and Frederick  Moehlamnn Wedding  Nov. 19, 1893
from Moehlmann Family Colleciton

LATER TEEN AGE AND EARLY TWENTIES - Part 10 - Discharge

The war is over but Alfred Moehlmann has not been discharged.  He is still in New Jersey biding his time:

 "It was no trouble to get week end passes and we had every night off until taps.  All kinds of “jitneys,” hacks, trucks, (mostly Model T Fords) hauled us to Long Branch, Red Bank or Asbury Park, N.J. for 15 cents.  All these places had community houses for service men.  We would walk over to the one at Little Silver which was just outside the camp and it so happened that George Krie with who I buddied around with went to this place at Little Silver and a nice looking gentleman who turned out to be minister asked us if we would like to have Thanksgiving dinner in a private house.  Of course we took that in stride.  He said some one would call for us at 9 o’clock that morning.  Two nice looking young women called for us, took us to their home in Red Bank, picked up their mother and we went to church services.  Had a good dinner, roast duck, served in formal style by the head of the home, a very nice gentleman, but unfortunately he was not very well.  After a short visit we went to a service foot ball game – tickets furnished.  We didn’t stay long at the game for it started to rain, so the young ladies drove us around the country side and showed us most places of interest in and around Red Bank. On another occasion George and I had a week end pass and we stayed in a private home at Long Branch.  Sunday morning we went to the community house and were playing a game of pool, when a fine looking man tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I had plans for the day.  Of course I didn’t so he said his daughter and 4 other girls had 4 soldiers at his home for dinner and wanted another soldier to pair off even and asked me if I would accept the invitation.  I did, got my hat and overcoat and out front was a big limousine, a chauffer, (in a separate compartment).  I still don’t know what kind of car but it had all appearances of a Rolls-Royce.  Had no idea where we were going but I knew it wasn’t Long Branch – Soon we came to Asbury Park, came to an estate with a high brick wall around it, drove up to an iron gate that opened by some mechanical device – Got out, entered the house and there stood a Butler, rigid as a statue with his arm extended – my host put his top coat and hat on the butlers arm and I did the same.  He then told me he was Henry Greene, asked my name, went in another room, that had mirror every way you looked, and presented me to his wife, a very gracious lady.  She took me in the room where the daughter and guests were and was I let down – The four soldiers were all commissioned officers – After the introductions the officers told me to forget rank, that we were out for a good time.  (Incidentally I later found out that Mr. Greene was the son of Mrs. Hetty Greene, multi-millionaire.)  We had a good turkey dinner, served in formal style.  Will never forget that by each plate was a dish of nuts.  I didn’t know when you were supposed to eat them so I nibbled away at them all through the meal – When the table was cleared and “chatter” took place, everybody was eating the nut but me.  A little dancing, music and an automobile ride took up the evening.

December 13, 1918 pass for Alfred Moehlmann
from Moehlmann Family Collection

To break up the monotony at camp I volunteered 2 times for Guard Duty.  On one of the assignments I was on Guard at Post No. 2.  The station was from the guard house to the Y.M.C.A. bldg. just across the street – It was on New Years Eve and everybody had an all night pass until 6 o’clock the next morning – You had to challenge everybody after 11 pm.   They had some kind of entertainment at the Y and it lasted until midnight.  A hard rain was in process and I had several hundred lined up and could only let one be recognized at a time.  It wasn’t long until the Officer of the Day brot me a written order that Post No. 2 didn’t have to challenge the next 2 wakes including the one I was on.  The other post assignment was No. 17 and it was at the Mule Barn directly across from the one mile race track and beside the track was a row of tents which were occupied by Negro Troops.  After every 3^rd trip around the barn you had to go inside and tie up any mule that got loose.  It was a stormy night, high winds and lots of heavy rain.  For some unknown reason there were a lot of mules loose when the rain was pouring, a hard gust of wind blew all the tents down and all the colored boys wanted shelter in the Barn – called for O.D. finally the O.D. let the poor, soaked negro troops in the barn.  They got bales of straw and made some sort of beds for the remainder of the night.  It was almost like a burlesque show to see and hear them cuss, joke, sing and play pranks on one another. It got to be a problem to have something for us to do and if the weather was half way decent they took us out to a field and we had to participate in some sport.  The last game I was in was a soccer game.  None of us knew anything about the game only to kick the ball around.  We had a new sergeant assigned our company, Sgt. Melrose from the State of Georgia.  Naturally he didn’t like us Damn Yankees.  He was playing on the opposing team and he and I were going top speed for the ball in opposite directions.  He side stepped the ball and put his shoe in my mid-section.  He doubled me up and I landed on my seater about 10 ft. away with the wind knocked out of me.  I got up and said, “Jesus Christ Melrose.”  He retorted, “Its just part of the game, if you can’t take it get out.”  All I said was “OK.”  I had only one thing in mind, to get even.  It wasn’t long until the same situation came about.  We were both tearing for the ball, I side stepped and swing my fist and took him above the right eye.  A gash about 3 inches long was the result.  I told him I was sorry and it was he who said ok.  The next morning I got my first fatigue duty.  We had outside toilets and I was assigned latreen duty.  I got a shovel and went with the gang.  I never got to make the first dip for an orderly came and said I was to report to the Commandant.  I wondered if I was going to be court martialed, was I relieved when informed I was to stay in quarters and turn in supplies for I was to leave that night for Columbus Barracks, Ohio to be discharged.  Sgt. Melrose never got the chance to make army life miserable for me.  That was the final chapter of the 12^th Depot Battalion, U.S. Signal Corpe for me. One incident that caused me some concern started in Asbury Park, NJ.  George Krie and I was seeing a couple of sisters.  One evening I got a letter from Mom and after reading it stuck it in my overcoat pocket.  Evidently part of it was sticking out of the pocket and the young lady noticed it when she took my coat and tore off the return part of the envelope and wrote Mom a letter.  She wrote a bunch of junk to Mom telling her how she got her address and I got the repercussion of it when I got back home.  It was the middle of January 1919 when we left camp Alfred Vail, N.J. over the Central of N.J. R.R. and caught a Pennsylvania for about an hour and on to Pittsburg.  There wasn’t much sleep in our small detail of 20 men and we had a car to ourselves hooked to the rear of the train.  It was a beautiful moonlight night and from the rear platform we got a good view of the well known Horse Shoe Curve.

Horseshoe Curve - built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1854 in Blair county, Pennsylvania
from Wikipedia in public domain.

  I have to break in here and tell about a week end in New York City.  George Kries and I went there on a Saturday afternoon – After we got off the ferry we landed in a tenement district and how kids survived is a mystery to me – Playing in the streets, dodging cars and trucks but I guess they are trained for it.  We got an El Train and got off in the vicinity of the Pennsylvania Station.  The Y.M.C.A. had sleeping quarters there and we registered for bunks.  We decided to take a subway ride and soon found out we were 26 miles from where we started from and hadn’t seen anything.  We got on an El Train and headed back for the Pennsy Station the center of our visit.  That night we took in a show at the Hippodrome Theatre, the biggest show house I ever was in.  The thing I can remember about it was the many balconies and the big stage.  They had a one ring circus for the attraction; elephants, wild animals, aerialists and clowns that you normally see at the circus.  Another thing was Broadway at night in the theatre district.  One mass of lights.  On Sunday morning we walked down Wall Street, a sort of gloomy atmosphere, but one thing there was a church there, surrounded by tall buildings, and even though it looked small in its environment, there were throngs of people attending the service.  We walked over Brooklyn Bridge and to describe the bridge would take a volume of ink and paper.  The huge cables, the piers, the height, the sights you could see, the traffic was almost unrealistic.  I didn’t see much of New York City but what I saw was fantastic. Now on to Columbus Barracks; the atmosphere was all different; this was the first regular army camp I ever was in as a soldier.  The personnel was all old army men.  Our stay was short there – Had K.P. duty one morning and the night befor, the detail assigned different sleeping quarters because we had to be on duty at 6 am.  It was the first time I had to slop with negroes in the same room.  I suppose on the medical check out I pulled a “Crock.”  I was informed it would take from two to three weeks befor I would be discharged but I had the privilege of signing up that I was as good going out of the service as when I entered,   This I did.  I wanted to get home.  So on __________[left blank in the original writings] I got my Honorable Discharge from the Army.

Army Discharge for Alfred Moehlmann, January 18, 1819
from Moehlmann Family Collection 

Alfred's pass above gives him permission to attend the "Passing Show."  This was an elaborate variety production that competed with the Ziegfield Follies.

It seems that Alfred got to do a lot of sightseeing his last months in the service.  A trip to New York City seems to have been a high spot. Here is a picture of the Hippodrome in New York:

Hippodrome 1905, New York
public domain

Hippodrome, interiror
public domain

Another chapter in the life of Alfred Moehlmann has come to an end.  Luckily his late draft date kept him stateside and now once again he is returning home. 

#52 Ancestors - Week 15 - How Do You Spell That?

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has a weekly challenge to write the stories of your ancestors. This is week #15 and the suggested theme is HOW DO YOU SPELL THAT?  I am highlighting my grandfather - Donald Sargent.

You might think that I would choose one of the many German names where it seems they use as many letters as possible in surname. Names like Rauschenbusch, Pfannebecker, Schutterhelm, and Strietelmeier. And then on top of that they also pile on the given names so I have Anna Catherine Gertrude Hartbeken, Maria Whilhelmina Katharina Gershmier and William Henry Harrison Rhodenbeck. But I really never had too much of a problem with these names.

But one of the more interesting stories I have about a name is that of my paternal grandfather. It doesn't really involve spelling but determining his legal name. II always thought that his name was Donald Sargent. That was the only thing I had ever seen or heard and I had no reason to question it. I knew that he was born April 6, 1888, but when I started researching my family, I was suddenly presented with some other possibilities for his given name.

The first place I found him is in the 1900 census in McCameron Township, Martin County, Indiana. His father had died two years prior and his mother is head of household. Here he is listed as Thomas Sargent. Did the census taker get it wrong? It wouldn't be the first time.

1900 Census - McCameron Township, Martin Co., IN
son Thomas b. Apr 1888

Then in 1909 there are two examples with his  name as "Donal" without the "d" on the end. The first is a post card from his wife-to-be in November of 1909 addressed to Donal. I thought perhaps this was just her unique way of addressing him.

Post card from Bertha Houchin to Donald Sargent
postmarked from Evansville, IN, Nov. 2, 1909

But then he used that same version when he signs his application for their marriage license as "Donal".

Signature read - Donal Sargent
on marriage license application December 1909

The next time I find his name is on his certificate that shows he has been licensed to become a coal miner in 1911.  After my father died I found this certificate still in the wallet that Donald had at the time of his death in 1957.

Signature reads - Donald Sargent
1911 Miner Certificate

So far we have Thomas, Donal, and Donald as my grandfather's first name. Then comes the World War I Draft Registration card.  Here we have Thomas "McDonald" Sargent.

Signature reads - Thomas Mcdonald Sargent
from World War I draft registration form 1918

What? "McDonald"? When I found this entry I called my Dad and asked him if he had ever heard his father referred to as "Thomas McDonald".  He said no. My aunt, however, said she vaguely remembered that he was named after a family that lived nearby and that he didn't like his name.  So I searched the McCameron Township census for a a McDonald family. Nope - there just weren't any. And that was the end of the story - until I got a subscription to newspaperarchive.com.  That is when I found out that Donald's father had become active in the Republican party and ran for sheriff of Martin County. As I was searching the local newspaper for articles about whether he was elected I decided to search for McDonald in the Martin County Tribune.

What I found was an ad for a McDonald Huff, a lawyer in Martin County who lived in Keck's Church where Donald's father had been post master.  Back to the 1880 census and I found a Huff family, only three families separated the Sargent and Huff farms. There was no McDonald listed but a little more searching and I discovered that his name was James McDonald Huff and he was also a Republican who later became a judge. I can't be sure that this is who Donald was named after but he is the most likely candidate.

All the other census records after 1900 list my grandfather as Donald Sargent. In 1941 he got a birth certificate. Indiana did not have statewide birth registrations until 1907.  I don't know what information was provided but on this document he is "Donald Sargent". And that is the only name I have found him using after that time.

LATER TEEN AGE AND EARLY TWENTIES Part 9 - Armistice

Alfred is back in Burlington, Vermont after a rushed trip to see his grandmother.

"On arrival back at camp the Flu had invaded it.  They used our floor for an emergency hospital.  I saw several of my buddies die.  After about a week I took it too.  It got to be a problem to handle the sick.  I was taken to an emergency hospital set up in the basement of a Methodist Church.  Evidently we had good care there for all 24 of us survived.  The latter part of October we got orders to be shipped to the Signal Corpe Embarkation Camp – Camp Alfred Vail, Little Silver,  N.J. so we got our last look at Mount Mansfield and The Camels Hump already covered with snow,  at beautiful Lake Champlain and Plattsburg, N.J. direct across the lake and far to southwest, Fort Ticonderoga. 

Oct 23, 1918 at University of Vermont, Burlington, VT

 After we left Albany, N.Y. we took the New York Central into the City on what I think was one of the fastest rides on a train and what offered to be the busiest.  We sped along the Palisades of the Hudson River and at times there were 5 and 6 trains abreast.  Somewhere we stopped and changed the steam locomotive for an electric.  The next thing we went into the sub-way and it wasn’t long until we unloaded in Grand Central Station, New York City.  What a sight that was; thousands of people and above all the noise and confusion the “caller” calling out the arrivals and departure of trains.  How we kept together I’ll never know.  Of course we were a small detail, only 40 men.  We had a long march on cobblestone streets, through wholesale fruit and vegetable markets, along piers and finally to a ferry boat which took us to Hoboken.  There we boarded a Central of New Jersey train and soon were at Little Silver, N.J.

There are two little items I want to mention about Vermont; First the rail road was the Rutland R.R. and 2^nd a little incident that happened in camp.  We had very little time off.  Went to school at night until 9 pm 5 days a week – taps sounded at 10 o’clock – If our grades were passable we got Saturday afternoon and Sunday off.  I was on the 4^th floor of the dormitory and a fire escape had an exit from our room.  There was always some fellows who, after bed check, would use the escape and sneak out for a few hours.  Now this fire escape went by the Commandant's Office and on one particular night 16 of us went out on a spree and to our chagrin the Commandant detected us, had another bed check and we were caught.  The next morning all Army orders were thrown at us – A.W.O.L. – sentence 2 weeks hard labor.  We were to build a pistol range on a range of mountains opposite us.  We did a little digging per order the first day;  the second day they unloaded a truck load of ship lop boards, 10 ft. long on our side of the mountain.  We each carried one board at a time making 2 trips in the morning and one trip in the afternoon.  We had a “shave tail” (2^nd Lt. from Plattsburg) in charge.  The second morning when we were about half way up the mountain we took one of our many rests and raked up a bunch of pine needles and built a fire. In a short while the officer in charge was spotted, we kicked the fire around and took off.  We didn’t get the fire all put out and in a short while the thick mass of needles caught fire and started a forest fire.  They had the Burlington Fire Dept. and the whole camp out fighting the fire.  It was a “Lulu.”  Axes & saws were used to cut down trees ahead and I guess the Fire Dept. finally got it stopped.  That ended our hard labor and the Pistol Range never got finished while I was there.

Camp Alfred Vail, NJ, December 31, 1918
US Army Photo from http://cecom.army.mil/historian/photolist

 Arriving at Camp Alfred Vail we were assigned quarters which were tents.  This camp was located on what formerly was a rail road yard. Large piles of R.R. ties (pine) were stacked all around the camp.  I want to say that on the south edge of the camp was the famous 1 mile straight away track on which the equally famous pacing horse, Dan Patch, made his record (a worlds record – less than a 2 minute mile). The first thing we had to do at the camp after getting our regular issues was to saw & chop up ties in short lengths for the funnel shaped stove in our tent.  They had cross cut saws, buck saws, hand saws and axes & hatchets for this job, but the trouble was that only a few knew how to use them.  The first morning quite a few of our bunch were called for overseas duty.  I don’t know if I was lucky or unlucky but I wasn’t called until Nov. 10^th and when news of the armistice came we were on a pier at Hoboken.  Confusion would be putting it mild but we entrained again and came back to our old quarters and had to participate in a parade at Long Beach, N.J.  It was one of the wildest parades I had a part in.  I don’t know where all the “Spirits” came from but by midnight Army Trucks were picking up soldiers and piling them up like logs and hauling them back to camp.  Winter was soon on us and tents got miserably cold and in a hurry and pine chunks of wood soon burn up.  So we had to keep a good stock of fuel ready.  About a dozen of our original bunch were still intact and we were fortunate that the Top Sergeant and the sergeant of our company were in the group.  They sure favored us when it came to fatigue work.  Everybody was restless; the war was over and we wanted to get back home.

The Fort Wayne News, Nov. 7, 1918, page 1, Fort Wayne, IN, from newspaperarchives.com

 The flu epidemic of  1918 killed half a million people in the United States. Worldwide it killed many more people than died in World War I.  A vaccine was not discovered until the 1940's. It was spreading so quickly among military institutions that the government put a halt to calling up more men.

The gymnasium at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vt., was converted into an infirmary during the Spanish influenza epidemic, as seen in this photo released by the Bailey-Howe Library at the University of Vermont, from Washingtonpost.com

Did you catch the term "shaved tail" when Alfred was talking about having to build a pistol range? Well I had to look it up and according to the dictionary it is comes from the practice of shaving the tail of newly broken mules to distinguish them from seasoned ones. So I guess it was a novice lieutenant. 

Dan Patch from Wikipedia.com public domain

Dan Patch was the horse that set a speed record for a harness horse of 1 minute 55 seconds for a mile in 1906. This record stood for 32 years. 

How lucky can a man be.  Alfred had been called to overseas duty and on Nov 10, 1918 he was on the pier in preparation for that journey.  An then the news of the upcoming signing of the armistice for the next day resulted in his return to camp. The signing on November 11th officially ended the war and that date has ever since been a national holiday.  Today we call it Veteran's day to acknowledge the sacrifice of all veterans in all wars.

Armistice Day, 1918, Wall Street, New York City