On This Day - January 26

HENRY DIEDRICK WAYNE BOVENSCHEN was born on January 26, 1908 in Linton, Greene, Indiana.  He is the son of William Bovenschen (1866-1947) and Gesena Heitman (1867-1933).  He went by the name Wayne.  He was the youngest of seven children and the only boy.

In the 1910 census he is 2 years old and living on the family farm in rural  Greene county.  His oldest sister is 18. By 1920, his oldest sister has married and his 78 year old paternal grandmother has moved in. The 1930 census has just Wayne, a student, and his youngest sister at home. There were four weddings in the 10 years since the previous census. Wayne's mother died in 1933 when he was 25.  In February 1935, Wayne marries Margaret Parrett in Vigo County, Indiana. 

The couple was married by Margaret's brother, Olin Edgar Parrett. At the time of his marriage Wayne was working as the assistant manager of Terre Haute Brewery.  In 1940 they are living in St. Louis, Missouri. At the time of the census in April he is unemployed and looking for work as a superintendent of brewery. He had worked for 30 weeks the prior year. His family has increased by two - a son born in 1936 in Terre Haute and a son born in 1940 in St. Louis. In July 1940 he is back in Indiana and working on a three month WPA project.

Linton Daily Citizen, 

11 Jul 1940, Page 1, 

Linton, IN, newspapers.com

The next move for the Bovenschen family is to Wilmington Delaware.  The 1940 military registration has him working for the Delmarvia Brewing Company. They were there until 1946 when they moved back to Terre Haute.  The 1948 Terre Haute directory has Wayne once again working for the Terre Haute Brewery and he is still there in 1958.  Wayne dies in 1980 in Terre Haute.  Three of his sister survive him. His wife dies in 1998. 

Wayne Bovenschen is my first great uncle.