#52 Ancestors Week 23 - Wedding - Moehlmann & Sargent

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has a weekly challenge to write the stories of your ancestors. This is week #23 and the suggested theme is WEDDING.  I am going to highlight my parents wedding.

I was surprised to find that I don't have any direct ancestors that were married in June.  February and March are the most popular months for a marriage closely followed by September and October.  So today I am gong to post about my parents wedding photo.

Weddingn Photo of Esther Jane Moehlmann and Arnold Lee Sargent - 29 Sep 1946, Linton, Indiana
l to r: Alfred Moehlmann, Jane Moehlmann, Helen Moehlmann, Bertha Sargent, Arnold Sargent, Donald Sargent
from Sargent Family Collection

What a solemn photo. Mom is the only one smiling. You might notice her gold front tooth. She was several years away from having it replaced.  The wedding took place in her parents home in the living room. 

It's funny how I never noticed the vibraharp before. The music was provided by one for the wedding. It's like an xylophone and is on the right in the photo. Here is a you tube sample of the vibraharp sound. 

#52 Ancestors Week 22 - Commencement - The Class of 1942

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has a weekly challenge to write the stories of your ancestors. This is week #22 and the suggested theme is COMMENCEMENT.  To commemorate the ending of the school year I want to share how my parents school years ended and one of the ways they continued those friendships through the years.

I had been going through the boxes of memorabilia I got while cleaning out my parents home several years ago.  I came across a scrapbook that my Mom had kept.  It was stuffed full of all the pictures, news clippings, and programs from all her class reunions.  My parents grew up in a small farming community in Indiana. 

The picture below is of the eighth grade class of three local schools.

!938 Eight Grade Classes from Greene County, Indiana
Esther Jane Moehlmann is in front row, second from left
From Moehlmann Family Collection

In Green county at the time you graduated from eighth grade common schools and then from High School.  Here is Dad's eighth grade diploma.

Eighth grade diploma for Arnold Sargent in 1936
from Sargent Family Collection

The next commencement exercise was for Dad in 1941:

1941 Diploma and Commencement program for Arnold Sargent
Linton Stockton High School
from Sargent Family Collection

Mom graduated a year later in 1942:

1942 Class of Linton Stockton High School, Linton, Indiana
Esther Jane Moehlmann - 3rd row, 7th from left
Sargent Family Collection

My parents missed the 20th reunion because they had just moved to Florida. But they were there for the 25th reunion.

25th Renion of 1941 and 1942 Linton Stockton High School Class in 1967
Top photo - Esther Jane Moehlmann Sargent - 2nd row from bottom, 3rd from left
Bottom photo - Arnold Sargent - back row standing, 3rd from right
Sargent Family Collection

Ten years later they met again:

35th Reunion of 1942 Linton Stockton High School 1977
Esther Jane Moehlmann Sargent back row 3rd from left in blue
Sargent Family Collection

Five years later, 1982, they met again to socialize and reminisce about their high school years. 

40th Reunion of the 1942 Class of Linton Stockton High School - 1982
Esther Jane Moehlmann 5th from left
Sargent Family Collection

This group is not slowing down. They are together again in 1987 for the 45th reunion.

45th Reunion of the 1942 Linton Stockton High School Class 1987
Esther Jane Moehlmann back row 6th from left
Sargent Family Collection

By now  you know what is coming. The BIG 50th reunion. The commencement program had listed 82 graduates in 1942. The news article said that 27 from the class were deceased. That leaves 55 classmate and 42 of them attended the 50th - that's 75%.  I think that is amazing.  I have yet to attend one of my reunions and its getting close to the 45th.

50th Reunion of 1942 Linton Stockton High School Class 1992
Esther Jane Moehlmann Sargent - front row, 2nd from left
Sargent Family Collection

This is a tight knit group. They met again in  1997 for their 55th.

55th Reunion of the 1942 Linton Stockton High School 1997
Esther Jane Moehlmann Sargent middle row 5th from left
Sargent Family Collection

The 55th was the last reunion that Mom and Dad attended. But their classmates sent them a picture from the 60th.

60th Reunion of the 1942 Linton Stockton High School Class 2002
Sargent Family Collection

An interesting note. Harold Powell is the mustached man in the back row to the right.  Mom was engaged to Harold for a short time during World War II.  Both went on to marry and raise families. In 1988 Harold married my father's sister.  So my Mom's ex-fiancee became her brother-in-law.

I feel that the Commencement exercises for this class were not the end but rather the beginning of a lifelong friendship among classmates.  The fact that they would travel from all over the state of Indiana and from far away places such as Texas, Florida, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan, to attend so many reunions shows the value they placed on those friendships.

#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.

52 Ancestors 52 weeks #9 - Close to Home - Sargent, Skeen, Waggoner Families

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has a weekly challenge to write the stories of your ancestors. This is week #9 and the suggested theme is CLOSE TO HOME.Rather than focusing on a single individual this week, I am writing about three families with the following surnames that migrated and kept their homes close to each other.

SARGENT - SKEEN - WAGGONER

Thomas Sargent is my 5th gr-grandfather and was born about 1760 in Orange county, North Carolina (later becoming Caswell county). He was the youngest of seven children. His brother Stephen was born about 1745, also in North Carolina. Living nearby was the family of Jonathan Skeen who was born in Pennsylvania about 1730. Jonathan had six children and his son Peter married Stephen Sargent's daughter Sarah in 1779 in Caswell county. In 1792 Jonathan Skeen, Jr. married another one of Stephen Sargent's daughters, Elizabeth, also in Caswell county.

By 1796, brothers Stephen, Thomas and William Sargent have migrated to Russell county, Virginia, along with many of their children, including the two Skeen brothers. In Virginia they were living near the Waggoner families who had been in Virginia since the mid 1700's. Unfortunately the 1800 census for Virginia was destroyed during the War of 1812. The Sargent's didn't stay in Virginia very long and several years later they continued moving west, this time to Kentucky, the Waggoner's also made their homes close by. 

In Pulaski county Kentucky in 1806, Thomas Sargent's son Jacob, married Elizabeth Waggoner, daughter of Henry Waggoner. Two years earlier Thomas' daughter Drada had married Jacob Waggoner, another son of Henry Waggoner. In the 1810 census the names were listed in alphabetical order on three different pages but you can see all the Waggoner's and Sargent's in Pulaski County.

Once again the Sargent's and Waggoner's were on the move. By the 1820 census they were in Lawrence county Indiana. Henry Waggoner died there in 1823 at the age of 59. While in Lawrence county the next generation of Waggoner and Sargent marriages occurred.  Henry Waggoner's granddaughter Savina, daughter of Jacob (brother of Henry) , married Elisha Sargent, my 3rd gr-grandfather, son of Joseph and grandson of Thomas.

One more move was made by the Waggoner's and Sargent's.  This time the move was just one county over - Martin county Indiana.  However, there was another interesting connection.  It was here that Savina (Waggoner) Sargent died and her husband Elisha's second marriage was to Sarah Boyd Skeen.  This particular Skeen family had migrated form Whitley county Kentucky, just one county over from Pulasky, and is thought they are cousins of the Skeen family the Sargent's had lived near in North Carolina.  

One more twist; Elisha's son Jacob, my 2nd gr-grandfather, married his step-mother's sister, Nancy Jane Skeen in 1852.   

There may have been other marriages between these three families, but I have not yet followed through on all the siblings.  

#52 Ancestors Week 7 - Love - AND THE WINNER IS

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has a weekly challenge to write the stories of your ancestors. This is week #7  and the suggested theme is LOVE.  I'd been pondering this topic for the past week.  I didn't know of any great love stories, no Wallace and Simpson giving up the throne type stories.  No Burton and Taylor on again off again can't live with you or without you type loves.  I couldn't decide on just one ancestor I love to research, because I can get thoroughly involved and fall in love with each and every one.  Then I was watching the "Sunday Morning" TV show with its theme of love this week.  Their last story was about the longest married couple - 81 YEARS! They are each 99 years old and the wife says the key to a long marriage is "I always let him have it my way." Priceless.

Katrina and Peter Tendick
From the Moehlmann Family Collection 

So I started looking to see which of my ancestor had the longest marriage. My great-great grandparents, Peter and Katrina (Kukes) Tendick were married in 1858 in Neukirchen, Prussia at ages 28 and 20 respectively.  They had been married 31 years and had 10 children by the time they immigrated to America.  They farmed in  Indiana and helped raise their grandson Alfred Moehlmann. They had been married 51 years when Peter died in 1909 in Indiana. 

Helen and Alfred Moehlmann
From the Moehlmann Faimly Collection

My grandparents Alfred and Helen (Bovenschen) Moehlmann were married in 1921 at the ages of 27 and 25 respectively.  Alfred was an only child, his parents divorced in 1907. But his grandparents, Peter and Katrina had set a good example. In his later writings, Alfred relayed this story about his wedding day:

 "March 26, 1921 was a beautiful day - bright sunshine all day. I cranked up the Model T and went to Mom's [he always referred to his wife as Mom] house. The trip to Bloomfield was a sort of joy ride. I don't think we had been together in the morning before. Yes, we were a little embarrassed when we went to the county clerk's office to get the license. We ate dinner at Mom's home and then the long wait for 6 pm, the hour set for the ceremony. Cranked up the Model T - Mom was ready and dressed in a new suit and all, Aunt Grace and Uncle Russell were waiting too, they were out witnesses and we drove to the parsonage and were married there in a simple ceremony - not even a ring.  I had a feeling of my own, relative to a ring. I saw the wide, plain band wedding ring my mother wore and somehow I felt it took something more than a ring to make marriage a success and also a happy one."

Their marriage was a success and they had a big celebration for their 50th anniversary. Alfred died in 1974 after 53 years of marriage.

Arnold and Jane Sargent's Wedding
From Sargent Family Collection

Alfred and Helen had set the example and three of their children celebrated their 50th anniversary as well.  One of them was Jane Moehlmann, my mother, who married Arnold Sargent in 1946. They had two children and in 1959 moved from Indiana, where all their relatives lived, to Florida. Their rule was that they never went to sleep without a "goodnight kiss."  They too had a big celebration for their 50th anniversary.  In fact they had several: one at the church, one in their community recreation center, and one with the family at their home.  They also win the prize among my direct ancestors of being married the longest - 61 YEARS.

  

Arnold and Jane Sargent - 50th Anniversary
From the Sargent Family Collection

Week 5 of 52 Ancestors - Mary Elizabeth Adkins Sargent

This is week #5  of 52 Ancestors for 2015 sponsored by Amy at No Story Too Small.  The theme this week is Plowing Through and my ancestor is Mary Elizabeth Adkins.

I come from a long line of farmers.  It would be easy to take the plowing theme and apply it to one of them.  But I think I will choose my paternal great grandmother Mary Elizabeth Adkins. I had thought about telling her story a couple of weeks ago when the theme was “Tough Women.” She met a lot of hardships and plowed right through. I also had to plow through a lot to get her story and I’m not finished yet.

Her story begins in May 7, 1859, in Indiana when she was born to Nelson and Jane (Williams) Adkins. She was the fifth of six children and she had two brothers and three sisters. Her father died in the Civil War when Mary was five years old. .  Her brother Henry was eleven at the time and quit school to help on the farm since he was the oldest son. In the 1870 census Mary is attending school. Most like her future husband is also attending the same school. In 1878 her brother Abner married Jane Sargent and the next year Mary married Jane’s brother Jasper Sargent.

Jasper and Mary’s first child, Etha, was born in 1878. In the 1880 census Jasper is listed as a farmer and they are living next to his parents. In 1881 their second daughter Emma Jane is born and a year later a son, Asa. Then at two year intervals comes Johanna, James, and Donald  In 1889 Jasper is appointed Postmaster at Keck’s Church, Martin Co., Indiana. In 1894 he runs for Sheriff of Martin County but is defeated. He does, however, become a deputy sheriff.  That same year their daughter Emma died of diphtheria,. Their seventh and last child, Hobart, was born in 1896, eight years after Donald and Hobart  is 18 years younger than his oldest sister, Etha,  who had married the year before he was born. In fact Mary’s baby was born just seven months after her first grandchild, Luther Taylor was born.  

In July 1897 Mary’s first grandchild dies. Just six months later in October 1897, Etha’s second grandchild, Erna, is born.  Mary went to help out when the baby was six months old because Etha’s husband, Luther Taylor, was ill with tuberculosis.  Mary was doing dishes and Etha was in the bedroom nursing the baby.  Suddenly Etha yells out for help, Mary rushes in thinking there is a problem with the baby, and there was Etha lifeless on the bed. Mary has now lost her second child and takes the grandchild to raise; Erna is just a year younger than Mary’s own son, Hobart.Tragedy strikes Mary again just nine months later.  Her husband Jasper dies at age 41. Family stories are that he died of a gunshot wound, that was not fatal, but he developed blood poisoning from it. It was also rumored that Jasper was shot by a jealous husband because he thought that Jasper was “seeing” his wife. I have not found an obituary for Jasper and cannot confirm the story.  The only newspaper article states that “Jasper is ill with high fever and not expected to survive.” Jasper was buried in Old Salem Cemetery in Martin County, Indiana.

Mary had gone to help her daughter and now Mary’s mother, Jane Adkins, at age 72, is living with Mary and helping with the four children still in the house. So there are four generations living in the house. Johanna had gotten married in 1900.

In 1901, Mary married George W. Green in Martin County, Indiana. Other than a marriage record in Martin Co., I can find nothing about him or their life together which was apparently very short.. One possible record is a 1903 directory for Evansville, Indiana, showing a Mary Green, widow of George livng at 106 U. 2d. Don't know what that address means and more work needs to be done.  As I mentioned earlier, there are still stories to be discovered.

Mary’s son Asa also was married in 1901 in Martin County, Indiana followed by her son James in 1905 in Linton, Greene, Indiana. But again tragedy strikes in 1908 when her son Asa was involved in a mine accident,  a mine car broke loose, hit him in the leg, and broke it in several places. He contracted blood poisoning and died leaving a wife and three children.

In 1909  Donald married Bertha Houchin. Bertha met Donald while she was helping her sister Amelia after the birth of her daughter in 1906 in Linton. So it appears that Mary was living in Linton at least by 1905. But I cannot find her in the 1910 census. 

Then in 1913 Mary’s  daughter Johanna died during childbirth, leaving four children ages 12 to 1 day.The infant Ruth, was raised by Mary’s son and his wife, Donald and Bertha Sargent.  A year later Johanna’s husband dies. So Donald and Bertha take their nephew to raise and the other children go to other relatives. Erna, the granddaughter Mary raised,  married in 1916.

For years I have searched for a picture of Mary Elizabeth. Just recently, while going through my Dad’s genealogy papers, I found a photo copy of a picture.  As far as I know, it is the only picture that he or my Aunt have seen.  It is a picture of Mary holding her first great grandchild, the son of Erna Taylor Duncan - Morris Donald Duncan, born in 1918.

Hobart’s 1918 World War I registration says his mom is living in Linton, Greene, Ind.and is using the last name Sargent not Greene. In 1919 the youngest child Hobart marries and a year later, Mary is enumerated in the 1920  census living with Hobart and his new wife in Evansville, Vanderburgh, Indiana . Mary’s last name is Sargent and she is listed as widow.

The two Christmas cards below tell us where Mary was living in 1921 and 1924. The first card sent in 1921 is from her sister and addressed to Mary in Evansville. The second one if from a grandchild ad addressed to Mary in Linton and in care of her son James. Both cards are very hard to read but the addresses are clear.

Then in 1927 Mary is living with her son Donald in Linton, Indiana. Her obituary states she was living there at the time of her death 18 January 1927.

So Mary, like many farmers wives, gave birth to a large family, then lost her husband at an early age. She also saw the death of several of her children and raised a grandchild. She remarried and was widowed again or divorced and then alternated living with her three sons. She plowed through and I will continue to do the same to find more of her story.