Gravestone of Infants Steuernagel (Photograph taken by Tonya & Keith Tetidrick, originally posted on Find A Grave)

I haven’t done a Wednesday’s Child post in several weeks so I thought it might be time to come back and revisit the writing prompt. When I left off, I had been working on the children of Charles Steuernagel who had died young. These children were cousins of my grandfather Roscoe. Charles Steuernagel married two of Roscoe’s Yegerlehner aunts, both of whom died before he was born. Charles married Henrietta first in 1884. After Henrietta died, Charles married her younger sister, Matilda Savilla. Charles had many children, but sadly, most of them died young.

One gravestone in the St. Peter’s Cemetery graveyard in Clay County, Indiana marks the death of two infants. The year of death is illegible beneath the grass line. The stone reads, “Infants….daughters of C.A. and S.M. Steuernagel, died…” It is plausible that the daughters’ names were written on the stone but they are no longer legible under the stone’s discoloration. Since Charles and Savilla were married in 1895 and Savilla died in 1902, the infants were born and died between these years.

Christian Yegerlehner Family, in 1891, in front of the farmhouse in Clay County, Indiana

The picture on the right can be enlarged for a better view (just click on it). The older couple in the middle of the photograph are my grandfather Roscoe’s grandparents, Christian and Elizabeth (Schwartz) Yegerlehner. All the men in the picture are their sons, with the exception of the man on the far right. That man is Charles A. Steuernagel and this is the only picture I have of him. The three girls in the front are Savilla (Charles’ second wife), Bertha (Charles’ daughter) and Sophia. Sophia was the youngest of Christian and Elizabeth’s children, and she would have been about 9-10 years old. When the picture was taken Savilla was about 14 years old and Henrietta had died within the year. Savilla married Charles four years later.

Letter transcription:

Kentland Ind
Aug 27-1942

Dear Daddy,
The children went to school this morning and got their book lists. Mark will be able to get most of his book from Billy Walker. Billy is taking three John had. Mark sold his to Dean Musselman. John will have to get all new as the books he gets this year are two year books and there aren’t many used books he can get. At least I wouldn’t know who to ask. We had a regular fall rain. Started sometime during the early morning. I had to get up at 3 a.m. and mop up and close windows. It rained nearly all morning. The boys had to wear overshoes and rain coats. I didn’t feel like driving the car so they had to walk-both came home with their pants wet half way to their knees but it rained so hard they couldn’t help it.
Had a letter from Ruthie this morning. They have an apartment now and their own furniture. They want us to come over for labor day week-end, but I hardly think I would feel like driving that far. Maybe they will come over-however Floyd is very busy now and still
(page 2) going to Bluffton.
Had a letter from Mom this morning. She said Jim had written that he was going to get a furlough soon and that they would be up. Haven’t heard from your Mother this week-but she was feeling pretty good the last time she wrote.
Alma and Arvilla are coming out this afternoon. Alma to get the books and Arvilla is coming along. She is leaving soon for the hospital. She has her clothes ready. Her uniforms are so long-she is wondering how she is going to look in such long dresses. Well she won’t be alone.
The Zell’s have moved in and Mark is getting acquainted. After talking to one of the girls he thought she was pretty nice.
The rain seems to be over-the sun is shining and the sky looks clear. I suppose after such a long hard rain the basement walls will be damp again. During the dry spell the walls dried out. If it weren’t for so many other necessary things I would have Sandy give the walls a coat of his waterproof paint, but if it doesn’t rain much this fall it won’t be necessary.
The boys don’t have to go back to school until tomorrow morning, so I will get some work out of them this afternoon.
Love Mother