Byron Henry Doll (1892-1949)

 Byron Henry Doll was born June 21, 1892 in LaGrange County, Indiana, a mostly agricultural area, even today.  Although he was the fourth child born to Henry H. and Lucy A. (Crow) Doll, two of those siblings, Joy Nell and Nathaniel Lewis died in 1889.  He had an older brother, Theries D. (born in 1890), and a younger sister, Louisa (Lulu) D. (born in 1895).

Lucy, Byron’s mother died June 12, 1898, just nine days before his 6th birthday.  After her death, the family was split up.  Byron and his father went to live with his paternal grandmother, Dianna Vorhis, in Benton Twp., Elkhart Co., Indiana, while Theries and Louisa went to their maternal grandparents, Nathaniel and Eliza (Airgood) Crow at Lake Wawasee, Turkey Creek Twp., Kosciusko Co., Indiana.

On April 29, 1910, Byron enlisted in the Navy as an Apprentice Seaman.  During his tour of duty he served on the USS Constellation, the Naval Hospital at Newport, Rhode Island, USS Wisconsin, the USS Petrel, the USS Sterett and the Naval Hospital in New York, NY.  He received an honorable discharge on June 20, 1913, the day before his 21^st birthday.

 Byron married Elva Sheffield on April 10, 1914.  Following are excerpts from a yellowed newspaper clipping found with Byron and Elva’s marriage certificate.  Which newspaper is unknown.

Wawasee, Ind.—April 12.—A wedding that has been anticipated with interest for some time here and in Syracuse was performed Friday afternoon, April 10, 1914 at the Christian parsonage when Miss Elva Sheffield of Syracuse became the bride of Byron H. Doll of Wawasee.  The young couple have been busily furnishing and getting their home in the suburb of Syracuse ready for occupancy several months past and Friday, accompanied by the bride’s father, William Sheffield and the grooms sister, Miss Louisa Doll. . .they slipped quietly over to Warsaw and were married.  The party returned the same evening in time for an elegant supper which was served by the bride’s mother, Mrs. William Sheffield. . ..

Between 1914 and 1925 Byron and Elva had five children; O’Leary D. (1914-1987), Madalean E. (1916-1997), Erma D. (1918-2001), Marguerite A. (1921-1998) and Robert E. (1925-2006).

In 1926, the family moved to Elkhart.  The 1930 census indicates that Byron was a heat-treater in a band instrument factory.  Elva was an office girl in an insurance company.  Although Byron was a machinist for most of his working life, there was a period during the early 1930s when he owned the Doll Insurance Agency, selling general insurance and bonds.

Byron was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) around 1946 or 1947.  According to the website www.alsa.org “ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.”  Life expectancy is 2-5 years. 

The photo above is of Byron and Elva at their cottage on Baldwin Lake in July of 1948.  By this time the disease had progressed to the point that he was unable to speak.

Byron died at 2:30 a.m. on April 7, 1949.  Cause of death was Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Clara (Haeb) Zeltinger (1845-1926)

Clara Haeb was the sister of my great-grandfather, John Joseph Haeb.  Most of the information presented here is from censuses, obituaries and newspaper articles.

Clara was born in Germany on February 24, 1845 to John Haeb.  Her mother’s name is unknown to me.  The identity of her father is from her death certificate.  The informant was the funeral director.  This raised a question of the validity of the information.  However, even before seeing the death certificate I suspected that Clara’s father was John because her son was John Joseph, as were her brother and his oldest son. 

Clara’s obituary states that the family came to the U.S. when she was 22 (this would have been about 1867), locating in Gross Point, Illinois.  The 1900 census shows that Clara and Leonard Zeltinger had been married 27 years (abt. 1873).  The census also shows Leonard’s year of immigration as 1872, as does the 1920 census for both Leonard and Clara.  This raises questions about Clara’s date of immigration in her obituary.  So far I have been unable to find her in the 1870 census, or in any passenger lists.  If she did indeed immigrate in 1867 with her family, was she married before Leonard?  I don’t believe that her parents immigrated.  Her brother John did not come to the U.S. until 1893.

The 1880 Federal Census, shows Leonard and Clara living in Northfield, Cook, Illinois.  They had four children:  William, age 6; John, age 5; Jacob, age 3; and Mary, age 1.

By the time of the 1900 Census the Zeltingers were living in Elkhart, Indiana, where they had moved in 1886.

The 1900 Census indicates that Clara had given birth to eight children but only four were living. 

The living children in 1900 were William, age 24; John Joseph, age 24; Peter, age 18; and Leonard Jr., age 13.    

What happened to the other four children?  A search for Zeltinger in GenealogyBank turned up the following:

The Elkhart Daily Review—Dec. 26, 1896

“Jacob, 19 year old son of Leonard Zeltinger, died of diphtheria at 8:00 this morning . . ..  Mr. and Mrs. Zeltinger lost a 14 year old daughter from the same disease only a short time ago.”

The Elkhart Daily Review—Dec. 28, 1896

“Another child, a daughter, in Leonard Zeltinger’s family on South Main Street, has diphtheria.  Two children have already succumbed to the dread disease.”

The Rockford Republic (Rockford, Ill.)—Jan. 20, 1897

“Elkhart, Ind., Jan. 20—Diptheria, which has existed here for some time has subsided.  Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Zeltinger buried their 18 year old daughter Mary Tuesday, the fourth child they have lost from this disease in the last few weeks.”

Putting known information together, I have come up with the following on the four deceased children:

            Unk. Daughter, age 14, died before Dec. 24 in 1896, in Elkhart (1^st)

Jacob, age 19, died abt. Dec 24, 1896 in Elkhart (2^nd)

Clara, age unknown, died between Dec 28, 1896—Jan 20, 1897 in Elkhart (3^rd)

Mary, age 18, died abt. Jan 20, 1897 in Elkhart (4^th)

Oddly, of these four children, only Jacob appears in the Death Index compiled by the WPA, which covers years from 1882 to 1920.

Clara Haeb Zeltinger died January 31, 1926 after a two-week bout with Pneumonia, aggravated by heart disease and Asthma.

Haeb Family to Elkhart

The SS Stuttgart’s manifest of Alien Immigrants Arriving at the Port of Baltimore, dated May 4, 1893, indicates that the destination of the John Haeb family was Elcot (Elkhart).  In my January 31, 2011 blog post, “Coming to America”, I surmised that the reason they had chosen to settle in Elkhart was because they had relatives living there.  This was based on my mother’s memory of what her mother had told her.  Her memory of the family name was fuzzy.  Zollinger, Zellinger or something similar?

A couple of years ago, while researching in Elkhart city directories, I discovered that John Haeb, Jr. was working at the Hub Restaurant in 1910.  Later in the same book, I found Zeltinger Brothers, Proprietors of the Hub Restaurant.  Also listed were Leonard, Sr. (Clara) and William H. (Maude) Zeltinger.  Was one of these wives John’s sister?  At the time I made a note and moved on to other ancestors.

Recently, while doing a general search for Haeb in FamilySearch.org marriage records, I found a marriage application for Peter Zeltinger to Ada Rentfrow that indicated the groom’s mother was Clara Haeb.

Clara died January 31, 1926.  Her obituary said that among her survivors was a brother, John Haeb [Sr.].

Another mystery solved!

Joseph John Haeb :: Employee or Inmate?

My mother says that her Uncle Joe was a cook in the Joliet State Penitentiary.  However, she doesn’t know whether he was an employee or an inmate.  Many members of the Haeb family were excellent cooks and worked in restaurants or some other kind of food service throughout their lives.  Joe worked as a cook in various restaurants until 1920 and possibly later.

    

Joseph John Haeb, the fourth of seven children, was born in Germany on March 23, 1885 to John Joseph Haeb, Sr. and Susanna (Shoup) Haeb.   Joe was nearly eight when the family immigrated to the United States from Beuren Germany, leaving from Bremen on the SS Stuttgart and arriving at the Port of Baltimore on May 4, 1893.  Their final destination was Elkhart, Indiana.

Joe was 21 when his mother Susanna died in 1906.  During the next 40 years, more often than not, Joe, his father, and his unmarried brothers, John, Jr. and Matthew resided together.  Occasionally one or another of them would strike out on their own, only to return to the family.  Joe married Lulu Anna Smith on June 29, 1927.  Their marriage was stormy one, as indicated by Joe’s living arrangements throughout the years.  The last year I found them living together was 1945.  At the time of his death on September 9, 1950, it does not appear that they were still together and she is not named in his obituary.

In pursuit of an answer to the question of inmate or employee, I found an article in the October 3, 1908 Elkhart Weekly Review, revealing that Joe was employed by Joy Lee’s Chop Suey Restaurant in Elkhart.  The article indicates that a man “. . . flourished a revolver, extended the other hand and commanded Lee, Joe Haeb and James Grimes, the three inmates, to replace in his hand a five-dollar bill which he claimed to have dropped on the floor. . . .” I was confused by the use of the term inmate.   Were they on some kind of work release program, or did the term have another meaning in 1908?  Dictionary.com’s archaic definition is, “a person who dwells with others in the same house.” The New Oxford American Dictionary defines the word similarly.  It appears that the newspaper item expanded that definition.  Regardless, the usage of the word in this case, seems unrelated to Joe’s history of incarceration.

It is unknown exactly when Joe was at Joliet, but it was probably earlier in his life.  A time-line using Elkhart City Directories and Federal Censuses indicates that it may have been in the 1908 to 1914 period.  I have been unable to find him in any city directories for this period or in the 1910 census.  His younger brother Ted was living and working in Moline, Illinois at the time of the 1910 census.  Is this a clue?  Moline is 140 miles west of Joliet, so I don’t think so.  However, if Joe had lived with Ted and committed a crime, he might have been sent to Joliet.  On the other hand, Joliet was a maximum security prison, so I don’t know.  I have manually searched (three times) the 1910 Census for Joliet Prison with no luck.  Of course the census does represent only one day in time.  My inability to find Joe may simply be because of many ways Haeb can be misspelled.

In mid-1911, Joe was arrested several times on various charges, including intoxication.  An article in the June 7, 1911 Elkhart Daily Review describes Joe as, “. . . an inoffensive sort of fellow when not under the influence of liquor.”  In the same article Joe says, “When I am intoxicated I seem always to get it into my head to peep in at windows.” 

In April of 1919, Joe was arrested for illegal possession of liquor.  Upon disembarking from a train at the Elkhart depot, Joe spotted a police officer and began acting suspiciously by hiding behind a nearby truck.  His suitcase contained 12 quarts of whiskey which he had purchased in Chicago. (Prohibition was passed in Indiana in 1917 and became effective in April of 1918, 21 months before the XVIII amendment took effect.)[1]

Found guilty of bootlegging, Joe was fined $130 and 30 days at the Penal Farm.  However, if unable to pay the fine, he would have to serve an additional 130 days.  I believe this was the Indiana Penal Farm in Putnam County, Indiana.  An article, in the Fort Wayne News and Sentinel, published shortly after the first anniversary of prohibition becoming effective in Indiana, states that “[T]he number of inmates at the state penal farm had been reduced fifty percent.”  “Before prohibition the majority of those housed there were men convicted of drunkenness.  In the past 12 months, the majority is made up of bootleggers and ‘blind tiger keepers’.”

So, was Joe an employee or an inmate?  Sorry, I still don’t know.  Joe’s work experience and history of incarceration do not preclude either possibility, however, so far I have been unable to find him in Joliet or in the State Penitentiary.  At some point I’ll be going to the Illinois State Archives in Springfield to check the registers of prisoners.  Obviously I am assuming inmate, but this story may end as many family legends do; with some truth, but with little resemblance to the story passed down.

   

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[1] Jason S. Lantzer, Prohibition is here to Stay . . . (Notre Dame, Indiana:  Notre Dame Press, 2009).

(Male) Doll (Mar 1, 1898 -- ?)

While fact checking my previous blog post (DAR – Part I), I discovered a certified copy of a birth certificate for (Male) Doll, born Mar 1, 1898 to H.H. Doll and Lucy (Crow) Doll in LaGrange County, Indiana.  I first thought it was my grandfather’s (Byron Henry Doll) record of birth, since it appears to be part of my aunt’s lineage documentation for DAR membership and my father always said his father was born in LaGrange.  However, upon further review I realized that Byron was born Jun 21, 1892.  Which of Henry and Lucy’s children was this?  Following are the only children I knew about.

     1.  Joy Nell Doll                         b. Apr 15, 1886                 d. Oct 25, 1889
     2.   Nathaniel Lewis Doll             b. Sep 28, 1888                 d. Oct 4, 1889
     3.  Theries D. Doll                      b. Aug 4, 1890                  d. Nov 1969
     4.  Byron Henry Doll                  b. Jun 21, 1892                 d. Apr 7 1949
     5.  Louisa D. Doll                       b. Apr 15, 1895                 d. Jan 2, 1989

Joy Nell and Nathaniel may well have been victims of a flu pandemic, known as the "Russian Flu" or “Le Grippe”, which had spread world-wide by October of 1889. Their mother, Lucy, died at Lake Wawasee, Indiana, where her parents lived, just three months after the birth of baby (Male) Doll.  I wonder if her death was the result of complications related to the birth.

The Index to Birth Records, LaGrange County, Indiana, 1882 – 1920, Vol. 1 A-L, was compiled by the Indiana WPA in 1939.  There were two entries that matched the information on the birth certificate.  One in book H1 page 33 and the other in book H3 page 193.  Oddly, none of the other children appear in the index, which makes me wonder if Byron really was born in LaGrange County.  Henry was a farmer, and LaGrange County, which was and still is a farming community, was probably sparsely populated.  Is it possible that the other births either occurred elsewhere (Kosciusko or Elkhart counties) or were not recorded?

In the 1900 Federal Census, after the death of Lucy, Henry and Byron were living with Henry’s mother in Benton Twp., Elkhart County, Indiana.  Theries and Louisa were living with their maternal grandparents in Turkey Creek Twp., Kosciusko County.  Neither family appears to have a two year old living with them.

Lucy, Joy Nell and Nathaniel Lewis are buried in the Crow Cemetery.  Many of the really old headstones are broken and scattered or illegible, therefore, it is possible that the unknown baby may be buried there, but not recognized.

So many questions.

Moritz Augustus Martin (1871 - 1943)

Moritz was born March 27, 1871, a pleasant early spring day in Chicago.  The fifth (living) child of John Henry (known as Henry) and Christina Ellen (Hohl) Martin, he had a sister and three brothers.  (Tillie, 8; Henry, 6; William, 4; and Frederick, 2 1/2)

Moritz was about six and a half months old when the Great Chicago Fire swept through the city on October 9, 1871.  It left the family, along with 100,000 other Chicagoans, homeless.  They lost most of their possessions, their home, and Henry's musical instrument manufacturing business.  As with many Chicago residents, Henry resumed his business and the family remained in Chicago until 1878.  Henry heard about a company that was hiring experienced old-world craftsmen for his band instrument manufacturing company.  Henry moved his family to Elkhart, Indiana, and became the sixth employee of C. G. Conn.

Moritz grew up in Elkhart, and lived most of his life there, with the exception of a couple of short periods.  In his late teens or early twenties, as a talented pianist, he studied at the Chicago Conservatory of Music and played piano for the Chicago Opera House orchestra.  It appears that this may have been around 1890, about the time he met and married Maudie S. on February 22, 1891.  While researching in SLC, I discovered this marriage, but wasn't sure it was my Moritz.  A few month later I heard the story about Moritz marrying a dance hall girl from Chicago and that his father had the marriage annulled.  Although my mother was not aware of this marriage, two other independent family sources remembered and passed on the story.  A dance hall girl?  Who wouldn't want a dance hall girl in her family history?

Nearly four years later, on November 29, 1894, Moritz married Clarissa Ellen (Carrie) VanTilburg.  She was the daughter of Irvin G. and Margaret (Hunter) VanTilburg.  Moritz and Carrie may have been childhood friends, or at least acquaintances, as the Martins and VanTilburgs were neighbors for many years.

Carrie VanTilburg

Moritz Augustus Martin

 
 Their first child, Irvin Henry Martin, was born in 1895, in Penn Yan, New York.  Their daughter, Florence, was born in either 1897 or 1898.  Sources differ about the year and I have not yet obtained her birth certificate.  Her evasiveness over the years about her actual age presented a dilemma when she applied for Social Security.

In 1907, Martin Band Instruments was incorporated.  Although Moritz, along with his siblings, was a shareholder in the company, he was a carpenter by trade.  It is unclear what part he played in the company, but may have built the cases for the band instruments.  During the early 1900s he worked at various positions in carriage factories and the Crow-Elkhart Motor Company.

He was a carpenter at Elkhart Brass for many years, until his retirement in May 1943.  His surviving grandchildren still have fond memories of attending his company picnics; especially the ride in his Model T, and later in his Model A.  On one of these occasions, another car ran into theirs, tipping it on its side.  Although my mother's arm was caught under the car, no major injuries ensued.  However, we paid the price, as she was always yelling at us not to stick our arms out the window because if the car rolled over they would be trapped beneath it.

Just a few months after his retirement, Moritz died at the home of his daughter on September 23, 1943, from a cerebral hemorrhage.

Carrie and Moritz Martin

Francis VanTilburg

Born about 1867 in Pennsylvania, Francis VanTilburg was the second of Irvin G. and Margaret (Hunter) VanTilburg's seven children.  In 1870, when Francis was two, the family was living in Spring Township, Penn., where Irvin was a factory worker.  The family moved often.  At the time of the 1880 census, they lived in Cedron Township, Kansas.  Francis' father and older brother, Harry, were farmers.  By that time Francis also had two younger brothers, Thomas and James, and a younger sister, Clarissa (Carrie).  In 1883 Margaret was born in Black Hawk, Iowa.  Lucy was born in 1885, in Toledo, Ohio, the same year the family moved to Elkhart.  Frank was 17.

Shortly after arriving in Elkhart, Frank went to work at the Elkhart Carriage and Harness Mfg. Co.  He was a hard-working and conscientious young man, and despite being extremely deaf, he got on well with his fellow employees.  On a warm Monday afternoon in late September, Frank headed home from work.  If he took only city streets, it was about a mile and half walk from the factory on Pratt and East streets to his house next to the Elkhart Creamery at the corner of Cassopolis and Baldwin streets.  Frank, however, had discovered a shortcut.  By taking Franklin Street to Hydraulic, and then following the railroad tracks the rest of the way home, he could cut off almost half a mile.

The engineer on the afternoon passenger train was looking out the window.  They were running late.  It was almost 5:45.  By now they should have been well north of the races where the starch mills and paper factories were located.  The fireman was shoveling coal, stoking the fire, trying to make up time.

Frank walked along enjoying the warm fall weather.  When he reached the railroad tracks where they crossed Hydraulic, he picked up his pace.  He was halfway home, it was supper time, and he was hungry.

As the train picked up speed, the engineer turned to look out the opposite window and was taken aback by the sight of a man walking on the tracks less than 20 feet in front of him.  He reached up and sounded the whistle.

As he reached the switch opposite the Elkhart Paper Company mill, Frank was startled by the shriek of the train whistle.  Suddenly becoming aware of his peril, he scrambled to escape the speeding train.

"But it was then too late, and although he . . . tried to escape, he was unable to do so, the engine striking him and knocking him down, after which the entire train passed over him."

The above quote is from the Elkhart Daily Review, Tuesday, September 25, 1888.  The article goes on to describe his injuries in gory detail.

". . . (I)t was found that he was dead, one leg being severed, his right arm almost severed above the wrist, while there was a deep gash on top of his head, one on the back of his head, and another under his chin."

Frank's funeral was held September 26, 1888.  His name never appeared in either of his parent's nor any of his sibling's obituaries.