52 Ancestors Week #2 - King Research

This is week #2 of 52 Ancestors sponsored by Amy at No Story Too Small.  The theme this week is “king”.   My grandson comes from a long line of Kings.  Not royal, but his paternal surname is King.  That provided a whole new arena to investigate.  I haven’t done much, mostly because I am starting from almost nothing.  

My grandson’s great grandfather is John Gordon King, Sr.  I had to start at the end.  I knew he was buried in Lakeland, Florida.  I also knew his wife’s name was Eugenia.  so I found his headstone on FindAGrave Memorial #82215623.

And there was also a military stone.

I had to look look up what CY stood for - it’s the rank of Chief Yeoman.  Then on Ancestry.com I found a death index from Alabama. I was surprised to find it in Alabama but everything matched and it gave me his parents name.

Next I looked at military records on Ancestry.  And there he was on a muster roll for the Navy.

It was the right name and correct rank as on his headstone.  But it was the top of the page that really caught my attention,

He was traveling from San Diego to Pearl Harbor in October of 1941.  Was he one of the survivors of the attack on  Pearl Harbor?  Then I went to search about the U.S.S. Wright activity during World War II.

From Wikipedia I found out the ship was named after Orville Wright.  It left Pearl Harbor on November 20th bound for Wake Island, arriving there on the 28th.  They were delivering construction workers and  63,000 gallons of gasoline for their storage tanks and then set off for Midway. There they dropped off ammunition and Marine ground troops.  The USS Wright departed Midway on December 4 going back to Pearl Harbor. They were en route when the news of the attack arrived and they reached Pearl Harbor the day after the attack.  Was our John King on board the USS Wright that entire time.  I’m not really sure.  More research will have to be done.  A Chief Yeoman is a clerical position and the ship was responsible for transporting troops, supplies, ammunition, etc. so it’s possible .But the top of the page says “passengers”.  Does that mean he disembarked at Pearl Harbor or some where else.?

John and Eugenia are enumerated in the 1940 census in San Diego, California.  They are renting a house for $30 a month there but were in Long Beach in 1935.  John says his father was born in Georgia and his mother in Alabama. They have two small sons, age 3 and 11 months, and both were born in Virginia.  His occupation is Chief Yeoman for US Navy.   

I’ve just scratched the surface of the stories of this family.  There is a lot more research to be done.

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?

EARLY CHILDHOOD - Part 5 - Summers in Linton

The story of Alfred Moehlmann's early childhood continues.  Keep in mind he was raised in the city of Indianapolis where his father's family of German descent settled.  Now Alfred is going to visit his maternal grandparents, Peter and Katrina Tendick, on their farm in southern Indiana near Linton.  The grandparents had immigrated from Germany in 1889 when they were in their fifties, so they are now in their sixties.

"I usually spent summer vacation with my grand parents in Linton.  This was always a treat to me – Dad would get a pass for mother and me on the Vandalia R.R. to Switz City.  There we would catch a Monon mixed train to Linton where we were met and a ride to the county in a buggy, hack or wagon.  There was a two hour wait at Switz City and they had a turn table on which the locomotive was turned.  It took all the crew and most of the passengers to manipulate this hand and push power operation.  I could always be sure when I got to Grand-ma’s that she would have a crock of rice cooked in milk.  A few things that I remember was seeing Grandmother going to town in a 2 wheeled cart, taking butter and eggs to trade for needed groceries and supplies and she always drove the old family mare, Tammy.  Another thing, I would go to the woods or milking lot with Aunt Sophia to watch her do this chore.  I always had to be well guarded for there was a Holstein cow, called Blackie, that disliked children and many were the times that it took a lot of running and climbing to get out harms way.  It was always a treat to go to the field at noon and evening to get to ride a hose back to the barn.  Also at times to ride a harrow or drag for ballast.  I also soon got big enough to turn the grindstone and that was far from being fun.  It seemed that Grandpa could never get through sharpening an ax or a scythe blade.  I think he could handle a scythe better than anybody I ever saw.  I saw several fields of hay cut this way.  Also while quite young I saw the cradle used to cut wheat and oats.  Grandpa and Uncle Bill did the cradling and Uncle Dietz and Aunt Sophia followed, picking up mower grain and tying it in bundles which had to be put in shocks later and finally hauled to the lot where it was stacked in big ricks.  Grandpa was quite handy with wood tools, making hay rakes and various other usefull gadgets.  He used to like to hoe and always had a razor edge on this tool.  Most of the land had just been cleared of timber and was full of stumps.  After plowing a little loose dirt, they would make a furrow with a single shovel plow; I soon was big enough to drop corn in the furrow and some one would cover it with a hoe.  Of course they plowed the corn with a double shovel plow but it took a lot of hoeing to keep the weeks under control." 

Wow!  The passengers had to help turn the train around. Monon.org has a picture of the depot and the turntable that Alfred mentioned. The Monon Railroad was almost entirely within the state of Indiana and got its name from the town of Monon, Indiana which was where the four main lines converged.

Life on a farm is totally foreign to me. I had no idea what my grandfather was talking about when he said he liked riding the harrow for ballast.  Thank goodness for Google.  Fields would be plowed - the earth turned over with the sharp blade that was pulled by a horse.  Then they would use a harrow drag to break up clumps and smooth out the dirt.  It was triangular shaped and had three rows of spikes and was pulled by a horse.  

Drag haarrow, photo by Daniel Christensen.
Notice the lever that would lower the spikes.

He also talked about a cradle to harvest grain.  It was an implement that had multiple scythes that allowed the farmer to cut a larger quantity of grain and have it fall between the fingers in neat rows.  Using the single scythe resulted in grain falling in no particular order.  This website shows how the cradle is used. 

Alfred enoyed going to milk the cows with his Aunt Sophia. Sophia is the youngest of the ten children of Peter and Katrina Tendick.  She was born in 1882 in Germany.  He then mentions his Uncle Dietz and Uncle Bill.  Bill was born in 1865 in Germany and learned the blacksmith trade there and had been struck by a heavy hammer that had deformed his back. Bill was the oldest son that immigrated with his parents. Two older sons who were grown and married remained in Germany.  Diedrick (Uncle Dietz) was born in 1872.  

Alfred goes on to relate an experience that occurred after a summer vacation:

"Once time on returning home from vacation the boys had a new game they wanted to teach me called Grab. They took me in an alley and there were some newspapers spread on the ground.  On the newspaper was a cap.  It had all kinds of trinkets in it, pocket knives, etc.  The idea was that they would blind fold me and anything I could grab was mine for keeps.  What I didn’t know was they went to the Commons, got a fresh dab of cow dab, put this on one newspaper, carefully place another paper with the cap and trinkets on top of the mess and of course after I got my proper bearing expecting to come up with a prize.  I was blind folded and the top paper and cap was removed.  At the command “Grab”, I did, but instead of knives and trinkets I had two handfuls of a green colored goo that oozed through my fingers, which was nothing more than pure fresh cow manure. "

Boys will be boys, I guess. 

EARLY CHILDHOOD - Part 4 Baseball, Bears & School

Timelines and Stories is back to  sharing the writings of my Grandfather, Alfred Moehlmann. The last post about him mentioned the big event of an arc street light being installed. I found the Edison Tech web page that describes how the arc light works. I think the invention of the light bulb must have been one of the greatest inventions of all time. Now back to Alfred's story as he continues with his early childhood in Indianapolis and some activities he shared with his father Fred:

"My father was an ardent base ball fan and while very young he took me to my first ballgame on Labor Day to see the Louisville Sluggers and Indianapolis Indians play at the Ball Park on East Washington street and sat in the bleachers – admission was 25 cents for adults; kids free.  Another memory was going to Riverside Park occasionally on the open or summer street cars.  The Bear Den or Cage was my main attraction.  Rides and eats were out – just to poor.

Father had a job of checking freight car numbers and the seals that locked the doors and had to do this also on Sunday afternoon.  I usually went along and on one occasion I got to ride the switch engine called The Possy from the freight yards to the Pennsylvania R.R. Round House on State street.  This was a thrill; sat by the engineer and rang the bell.  However most of the trips back home on Sunday afternoons were a bore to me, because Father liked his beer and would stop at the Home Brewing Co. on McCarty street where he had close friends and they always had a keg on tap.  Of course this was free and I would have to tug and pull to get Dad to go home. 

 Another incident that comes to mind happened at Emmaus School.  It would be unfair to mention names, but a boy who sat in front of me had lice; they would drop off his hair on my desk and I was caught playing with them with my pencil.  The teacher, Mr. Damascus, asked me what I was doing and not wanting to tell, I got my first whipping in school.  The school master had a raw hide whip about 2½ feet long and about the size of a finger; needless to say I had welts and red stripes all over my back.  Some how my mother noticed that I winced when my back touched a chair and finally it was discovered that I had been whipped, and of course I had to tell the reason.  When my father got home from work, he ate his supper and took me to the teacher.  For awhile I thought there would be a fight.  Of course the teacher was not entirely at fault; he could have used some restraint but the next day the boy was examined by the teacher and he and another brother and sister were sent home and I suppose de-loused."

The Indianapolis Indians were formed in 1903 and played in the stadium on Washington Street until 1929 when a new stadium was built. They are still playing ball today, but in the even newer Victory Field built in 1964 and tickets today cost $12.  

The Riverside Amusement Park that Alfred visited was opened in 1903 and was located on the White River.  It closed in 1970 although there is still a recreational area located at that site.  You can read about the history here.  This is the bear pit that Alfred said he enjoyed.

The Home Brewing Company was started in 1891, with the majority of the stockholders being of German descent.  There are pictures and a history of the building on the Historical Indianapolis website.

The story about the whipping at school demonstrates the contrasts with today's school.  But what also amazed me was that Alfred's father went to the teacher's after supper to discuss the situation. 

The next post will tell us how Alfred spent his summers.    

  

52 Ancestors Week 1 - Fresh Start, Finding Leright Houchin's Parents

I'm interrupting the story of Alfred Moehlman today to participate in the 52 Ancestors Challenge 2015 that is sponsored by No Story Too Small blog. I'm going to attempt to participate each week. "Fresh Start" was the prompt for this week.

My father had done research back in the 60’s and 70’s.  Most of it was done by talking with relatives.  He had pages and pages on aunts, uncles, and cousins and all their descendants.  But all he knew about his grandfather was that he was born in 1851 in Pike county, Indiana and died in 1911, also in Pike county. In 1870 he was living in the household of Leright and Sara (Davis) Houchin, although he was not in their household in the 1860 census.  And of course, there is no relationship shown in this census.  It is curious that Leright junior is not listed in age order of the older children and there are two other children with different last names in the household.

Leright was married to Martha Emmaline Adkins in 1872 and they had 11 children.

Family stories about Leright were varied.  Many though that the senior Leright was his father.  They said he Leright had given him land. They also suggested that perhaps he was illegitimate. Dad never thought that was true, but he really didn’t have evidence either way. In the 80’s he gave me all the information to put into the computer. And it remained that way for another 10 years.

Then when more and more documents came online I took the opportunity for a fresh start. I decided to research the older Leright. He was buried in the Davis Cemetery in Pike county and in that same cemetery is a stone for  J. Houchin that died Nov 1851 and says son of L & S Houchin.  Since this child wasn't listed in the 1850 census (youngest child was Theodore age 8 months) it was fairly certain that the younger Leright’s mother was not Sarah wife of the senior Leright..

So I started looking at other members of senior Leright’s family. His parents were Jesse and Elizabeth (Clifford) Houchin and they were in Pike county in the 1860 census.

And there is a Leyright living with them. Spelling is different but not a big deal. Age is right at 9 for being born in 1951.  If he were illegitimate he may be living with his grandparents. But who was his mother and where was she. But the strange thing is that there is another young child, Jasper age 6, also in the household. Who is he?  I couldn't find him in the 1870 census. Jesse and Elizabeth had both died by that time. Jesse and Elizabeth were in the 1850 census. They were in Pike county, no children in the household, and living next to their son Chesterfield, his wife Nancy and their two children Harrison age 3 and David age 1.  

I really wasn't getting very far in finding the parents of Leright. Then the wonderful genealogy community came through.  Ancestry’s MyFamily.com (Ancestry discontinued this last year) had a very active Houchin page.  It was through a new-found cousin on that site that I learned that Chesterfield and Nancy (Smith) Houchin were the parents of Leright. Happy dance!

Nancy had died the same day her fourth son Jasper was born in Oct 1853. I’m sure Chesterfield’s parents helped him with the four children since they lived next door.  Chesterfield remarried 18 months later, but then died in 1859 of pneumonia. So that is how the two youngest, Leright and Jasper, came to live with their grandparents in 1860.  After the grandparents death Leright  moved in with his UNCLE Leright, his older brother David Johnson was living with his Aunt Lieumara (Houchin) Huffman. Still have not located where Harrison or Jasper were, but I did find that Jasper died in 1870.  I had a fresh start in my research, Leright however had to completely restart several times in his early life - losing his mother when he was only 2 years old, his father at age 8, and both of his grandparents were gone by the time was 14.  It was his namesake Uncle that took him in and raised him until his marriage in 1872.

EARLY CHILDHOOD - Part 3

The previous post of Timelines and Stories introduced the area of Indianapolis where Alfred lived. Today we will see how different life was during the early 1900's. Alfred writes:

"I was a weak, sickly, skinny kid and did not attend school very much the first few years.  My parents being Lutherans, I attended St. Paul’s Parochial School on New Jersey street the first few years and then a new church and school was built on Orange street called Emmause.  I went through the 6^th grade at this school.  The Catholic children attended St. Patrick Parochial school on Prospect street and the other children attended the McKinley school on State street – We kids grew up and played together as all kids do.

We had what we called a Commons (empty lots) that was an entire city block bounded by State street, Spann and Fletcher Avenue and the Big Four R.R.  Here is where we played base ball – We didn’t have much equipment- A yarn or string ball, maybe a ragged glove and most times a hand made bat.  We used the familiar boulder or big stones for bases.  We often had to change our diamond because of cows that were staked out in the commons for pasture.  Near us was a lady who had lost her husband and had two children, a boy and girl, and she had 2 cows from which she was able to sell enough milk to raise her family.  During the winter months the boy would collect all the green garbage in the neighborhood to feed the cows.  Now of course we had some hot ball games in the street – We did not have interruptions by automobiles, but occasionally a delivery wagon would cause a delay.  Of course, and naturally, every once in a while a ball would crack through a window, and everybody would run.  I can’t recollect that the kids or their parents ever paid for such a mishap.

 It might be stated here that there were no paved streets and most of the side walks were made of brick; however State street had concrete sidewalks.  It was here we did our roller skating and played polo.  Now here is where we had our worst problems - most all the skates had wood wheels or steel wheels and they sometimes got flat or wore out.  Nobody had ball bearing skates.  We used to go to Tucker-Dorsey on State street, who made furniture, and get some kind of caster wheel that worked fairly well as a substitute.  Now the polo stick was a problem – most of us would get a crooked limb and the more fortunate who could buy a stick would wind wire around the curved section or took tin around that section – woe to him that got “socked” on the shin.  A Big night for the kids was when an arc street light was put up at Summit and Spann avenue.  A strict curfew was enforced at 8 o’clock but this night our parents let us have extra time.  While laying on my back and yelling because bigger boys were putting street gravel down my pants legs, I suddenly was yanked to my feet by a policeman.  There were two officers, one had me and another my cousin Edmund Lichtsinn.  After giving us a scare of going to jail, they turned us loose." 

Here is a google map of the area Alfred described.  Of course the interstate wasn't there but The McKinley School, St. Patrick's Catholic Church, and Emmaus Lutheran Church are all still there. The railroads are shown in light grey.  The Emmaus church was built in 1903.  

Emmaus Luthern Church on Laurel Ave. Indianapolis, IN

Alfred states that he was a sickly child, but here is a picture of him that states on the back he is age six, I think he looks younger. He looks to be healthy although maybe a little small. I wonder how typical this outfit is for the time period.  

Alfred William Moehlmann, age six
From the Moehlmann Family Collection

Tucker and Dorsey Manufacturing Co. was  established in 1865, employed 100 people and made all types of wood products.  When I went to Google to find out about the company, I found many of their now antique items for sale - kraut cutters seems to be popular.  There was also a mention in a Google book about hand trucks.

EARLY CHILDHOOD - Part 2

Alfred Moehlmann gave us a short introduction to his parents and grandparents prior to his birth and now tells us about his early days:

"It was on October 5^th, 1894 that I was born in a modest 4 room home at 1611 Spann Avenue, Indianapolis a few squares south of the Big 4 Tracks (now the New York Central Ry.)  This was a neighborhood of the working class of people – Since Indianapolis was quite a railroad center there were a lot of employees that lived in this section – Across the street lived a Mr. McCarty, a locomotive engineer, Mr. Kennedy a blacksmith, a colored family 3 doors east of our home by the name of English and he was a porter on a Pullman Car.  Mr. Reed a newspaper man, Uncle Bill Lichtsinn who worked for the Home Stove Co. and kept a team of horses in a barn, back of his home. Father worked at the freight house for the Pennsylvania R.R.  And there were a lot of children in this neighborhood – both Catholic and Protestants. Some of the things that came to mind are that Father’s wages were 28⁰⁰ per month.  Our grocery bill was never allowed to exceed 10⁰⁰ per month.  I have no idea what the payments on our home were."  

 Once again we are given a lot information in this one section.  I might add that I have kept the spelling and punctuation as he wrote it.  He often uses dashes rather than periods at the end of a thought.  

Alfred & Matilda Moehlmann, 1611 Spann Ave. Indianapolis

This is the childhood home of Alfred Moehlmann at 1611 Spann Avenue in Indianapolis, Indiana. Alfred and his mother are standing in the front yard. This photo was taken in about 1900.  

This past November I visited this area of Indianapolis.  Alfred's boyhood home is still there, as are all the homes on Spann Avenue, although a second story has been added to his four room home. When I drove down the street there were cars parked all along the right side of the street and there was barely room for one car to pass down the street. These homes were built before the automobile and so were not designed to accommodate them and, of course, there are no garages. There is an even narrower alley behind the homes.

In an 1889 directory of Indianapolis, Alfred's father's occupation is listed as tallyman.  A tallyman is responsible for the freight in the railway cars. In the 1900 census, many of Alfred's neighbors are working for the railroad.  That $28 salary seems extremely low, but it is equivalent to about $725 today.  

Alfred mentions his Uncle Bill Lichtsinn.  His aunt Anna Moehlmann married William Lichtsinn when she was just 18 and by 1900 had been married 12 years and had six children.

Year: 1900; Census Place: Center, Marion, Indiana; Roll: 389; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 0130

So we have a feeling for the neighborhood Alfred lived in and the next installment will tell us more about his schooling and other activities in his neighborhood.
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