Tag Archives: Ruth E. (Yegerlehner) Mutchler

Happy New Year!

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As I sit at my computer transcribing today’s letter, I am also thinking of the New Year and how life is constantly cycling around and around. The changing of the years is one such cycle. For me, the New Year is the beginning and the end of another year of my marriage. My husband and I were married on New Year’s Eve. We always start the New Year with the beginning of another year of our marriage. It also makes it really easy for my husband to remember our anniversary.

I have never been one for making New Years’ resolutions.  Why bother with resolving to do something that only lasts a few weeks and is quickly forgotten? And then later, when it is remembered it becomes something to regret. I don’t like regrets. I don’t like to dwell on them either. That’s too much energy wasted. I like to make decisions and move on from there. This year however, I really want to set a goal for myself. I’ve had my grandparents’ letters sitting in a box for over 10 years. I want to share them and really truly read them all. So I’m setting myself a goal, to transcribe and publish one letter per day through the entire year of 2013.

I have a lot of things to look forward to this year. Some of them are predictable, as in, they happen every year; for example, the annual ritual of selling Girl Scout cookies. I know I get frustrated with the bureaucracy of the whole process and it pretty much does fill up the months of January through March. But I do ultimately like doing it. This year, my family has a couple of landmarks to experience. My oldest will be leaving elementary school and moving on to the big bad middle school later this year. Much like the shock of achieving 18 years of marriage yesterday, I wonder:  where did the time go?  My baby girl is now a pre-teen, staring down at the hormonal cliff of puberty. I’m also planning a trip back east to visit family and friends, many of whom I have not seen since high school. Definitely an event to look forward to!

My grandparents’ letters remind me that even though my grandfather was away from home, life still went on. Bills had to be paid. The rain still fell (or in my grandfather’s case it didn’t). There were things that they were looking forward too, like the birth of their youngest child and a time when my grandfather could be home for good. So I hope you stay with me as I share the next 365 days (and more) of their lives, 70 years ago.

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Letter transcription:

Mon.

Dear Mother,

Just read your July 2nd +3rd letters. Didn’t get any mail Sat. The mail comes here in the P.M. and since there are no deliveries in the P.M. I don’t get the letter until Mon.

I can’t figure what the Insurance to the P. reality Co. is for. That seems too much unless they are figuring the car but that isn’t due until Aug. So don’t pay it until then Aug 11 to be specific. The house Ins. Surely isn’t that high unless its the 3 yr. coverage you talked about.

We had a very busy P.M. must have had close to 400 and only three of us. Hope some of those new (Jgs) get here before long. Maybe I shouldn’t have applied for the Flight business. That would htup stop any transfer to peru (penn?) etc-Maybe we can get a transfer there after the course is finished.

Do the boys know or do they just suspect your condition etc? You spoke of them being so considerate.

We haven’t had any rain here since the night you left. Just a few little spurts you can imagine how dry it is.

(page 2)I didn’t say anything to the folks about the Flight school. Because I don’t know if it will go thru etc.

I thanked Boonie for the candy, wrote Ruth + the folks yesterday.

That bank account sounded pretty good hope we can continue it there for a while. When + if I get the uniform money I think we should apply it on the note to D. Ream + stop that interest. Maybe if I get a leave we can attend to those things.

Well, I write more next time,

Love Daddy

Sunday’s Obituary – Clarence Earl Yegerlehner (1897-2001)

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Yegerlehner, Clarence - Obituary, 2001Clarence Yegerlehner was the oldest son of John H. and Lovina (Schiele) Yegerlehner. He lived until the ripe old age of 104. I find it curious that his youngest sibling Floyd, born 14 years after, only outlived him by 5 months. There isn’t much more that I can add to Clarence’s story that hasn’t already been written in his obituary or the biography from the Church booklet. I am also adding a piece that Clarence himself wrote about the Yegerlehner farm.

Transcription of Clarence’s History:

Yegerlehner Homestead History

Clarence Yegerlehner's History of the Yegerlehner farm

Clarence Yegerlehner’s History of the Yegerlehner farm

Just recent information tells of David Yegerlehner and wife Magdaline Strahm Yegerlehner with their children Christian, John, and Rosina after leaving Switzerland in 1851, landed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Fayette County, Paint Township. Years from 1851-1860 are not known, but in June of 1860 census, they lived in Homes [Holmes] County, Ohio near Winesburg south of Mt. Easton Church. By trade David was a carpet weaver. Migrating west they came to Marion Mills near Patricksburg in Owen county, Indiana. Christian came over in Clay County and purchased 104 acres farm. (Forty acres direct from government and balance in 1860[sic] from those living near by.) David never owned the farm, only a building on the south side of the road for his shop. Christian made boots and shoes on northside of the road. The road then going direct from Clay City to Bowling Green between present house and barn. The other two of David’s children located in northern Indiana near Ft. Wayne. As only seven acres of homestead was cleared Christian had quite a task of clearing the land, John of second generation, purchased the farm. There was still some acreage to be cleared and he spent a summer draining the low lands with tile and changing of branches as low land was only swamps and crooked woods. None of the third generation, seven in number, owned the place, but only two born there and balance grew up and lived there until married and had homes of their own. Clarence, the writer of this history, was of this generation.

Kenneth, his son, was of the fourth generation, then purchased the place. No resemblance today as to previous. House has been replaced, the Swiss-type barn burned and replaced as a modern dairy barn, including silos, loading, sheds, etc. Alan, his son, lives on adjoining farm purchased from his grandfather, Clarence (originally owned by Clarence’s father, John). In all these years (122), it has been father and son working together on both farms. Now still a Swiss decendat [descendant] as of long ago, milk 50 to 60 cows, typical of the Swiss. So seven generations of Yegerlehners make up the 122 years of the old homestead history.

We hope that in future years it will be Luke, Alan’s son born October 1, XXXX, that will finally become the next owner. Then the Yegerlehners name has never been changed in ownership in all 122 years. Seven generations in all.

Written by: Clarence Yegerlehner, August 1982

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Letter transcription

Fri.

Dear Mother,

Got lots of mail today a letter from you, Ruth M + Mom – a package from Boonie + wife and a package (carton of cig) from Dorothy. I wouldn’t pay any attention to Dorothy because you know how her stories are. Sometimes they stretch-Don’t let the boys get hold of this. Maybe you will have a brighter outlook after you get the letters this week. I forgot to write Free on the letter yesterday so don’t know if you’ll have to pay for it or not. I remembered it after it was mailed.

I’ll have to write Boonie thanking him for the candy-probably will do that Mon Sun. You can call Dorothy and thank her or go and tell her. You can’t afford to be mad at her now.

It’s been pretty hot and Humid here today no rain but just damp.

Someone called me yesterday Eve. just before I got home and Mrs. E told them to call back later but they never did. I suppose it was Jim-Said it was a man. He’s the only man I could think of. Might be several women? (O yea)

Just had to run down and answer the phone

(page 2) someone wanted to talk to the “nice man”.

Tomorrow I’ll be on duty and may not get a chance to write, but will on Sun again. I won’t be off until 9:30 or so on Sun. That being the night of the fourth I suppose we’ll have lots to do.

It’s about meal time and I’ll get the little slips you sent and mark the amounts to be paid.

That Warren Feed bill seems high. You won’t have to go far back because I paid him each mo. Never did run an account with him larger than one mo. and I didn’t remember buying that much from him the last time he was there. I may have mail ordered just before he came the last time and that would be on that bill. What did you send back.

Well, if I were there for a short time I could figure it out but it doesn’t look like I’ll get to come for a few days yet.

Love Daddy

Sunday’s Obituary – Ruth Elizabeth (Yegerlehner) Mutchler (1900-1983)

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Mutchler, Ruth E. (Yegerlehner) - 1983As I sit down to write about my great aunt Ruth, I’m not sure what to write. Her obituary is so brief and it tells so little about her life as well as the fact that I don’t really remember her at all. One thing I do remember about her is her name – Ruth. You see, my family has an affinity for the name Ruth. It’s not like it has been purposely passed down from one generation to another. It is more as if, one Ruth is somehow attracted to another. My middle name is Ruth, so is my mother’s. That was a deliberate naming. My paternal grandmother also has Ruth as her middle name. My grandmother had two sister-in-laws named Ruth, one was her husband’s sister and the other the wife her husband’s brother. One thing that I do have to be careful about when transcribing the World War II letters is to make sure I reference the correct Ruth.  My grandfather’s sister was usually notated as Ruth M. because her married name was Mutchler. The two Ruths are mentioned rather frequently in my grandmother’s letters.  Case in point, I just emailed my dad to see if he could remember anything about his aunt Ruth. He replied “Which One?” When I was in high school looking over the Yegerlehner family tree, I remember counting how many Ruths there were in the family. It seemed like there were a lot. Ruth also named her daughter Ruth, but her daughter always went by her middle name.

I have read a couple short autobiographies written by my grandfather regarding his family. He always mentions his sister Ruth, usually in the context of being the sole female in a household of boys. There were 6 boys to 1 girl. He sympathizes with the plight of his mother and Ruth being responsible for cleaning up after all the men and boys in the house. For some reason, my grandparent’s generation seems to be devoid of females. My maternal grandfather didn’t have any sisters, and his father didn’t have any sisters either.

Ruth graduated from Clay City High School in 1918. She married John Earl Mutchler around 1923. The Mutchler family must have been very friendly with the Yegerlehner family. When my grandparents got married in 1929, Victor D. Mutchler was my grandfather’s witness or best man. Victor was John Earl’s younger brother. Victor and Earl’s older half sister was Lucinda (Mutchler) Steiner. Lucinda Steiner was best friends with my great grandmother Lovina Yegerlehner. The Steiner family and the Yegerlehner family lived near one another in Harrison township, Clay county. Both families also belonged to St. Peter’s Church, a small German Reformed Church in Clay City on the Owen county line. So I guess it is no surprise that Ruth Yegerlehner knew Earl Mutchler. Coincidentally, Lucinda Steiner also named one of her daughters Ruth.

When Ruth and Earl got married, Earl was already a widower. His first wife Edna Grace Ream (FindAGrave) had died in 1919 after childbirth along with their infant son (FindAGrave). Ruth and Earl eventually moved to Wilmington, Illinois. Earl worked as a mechanical engineer and a locomotive engineer for the Northern Illinois Coal Corporation’s strip mine in Wilmington¹. They lived there for many years. My father always remembered her at family reunions, he wrote “I always found Ruth to be kind, warm and with a sense of humor. I remember her laugh and her grin.” I figure she would have to have a sense of humor to survive growing up in a household of 6 boys!

Ruth and Earl had one daughter, Ruth Romaine. Earl died in 1964 (FindAGrave), leaving Ruth to survive him for almost another twenty years. Ruth is buried next to Earl at the Oakwood Cemetery in Wilmington, Illinois (FindAGrave).

Note:

  1. Short article on coal mining in northern Illinois (here)

Letter transcription:

Sun P.M.¹

Dear Mother,

Got your first letter off this A.M. but since Dr. Lentz is playing golf and I’m sitting in his car at the club house I’ll write more of the days happenings. He has been crazy to go swimming in the ocean so I took him up. We were in for almost 1 ½ hours. It wasn’t very rough but the waves were sometimes above our heads and the salt water got in our eyes, nose hair + ears. I rather enjoyed it but didn’t want to stay too long because of too much sun burn. I wanted to read but got sleepy and when one is around the house there is no rest. Mrs. E. keeps up a running conversation. It wouldn’t be

(page 2) so bad but it’s the same thing over and over again. Each time she tells the same things. Just like Uncle Geo.²

I don’t believe it would hurt you if you came in the car and took your time. We just won’t be able to look for anything unless we have the car and I can’t ask Dr. L. for his because he don’t want his tires etc. worn out by us. I’ll get some dope on the gas thing tomorrow and send the card back. I’m sure if you keeping asking ahead you will be able to find out where the gas rationing starts and be able to fill up. Then you  are allowed 3 gal. per wk without a card so the last 60 miles could be on that 3 gal. There shouldn’t be too much traffic most of the way unless you hit some of the larger towns. In case something does happen go to a hospital and call

(page 3) or wire me. You might bring the small radio, th my safety razor and a laundry bag. One of those we used to collect towels in at the office. You of course will have Dorothyᶟ or this other woman or some one drive you. I’d feel better if Floyd could drive you down. Will you have to take the kids over to someone or will they come to get them.

Harold Foulks told me Nate was in the dispensary. Well so am I. They don’t seem to make much fun about who you are or what. There are several Lt. come in the same place I am.

The P.M. rains we used to have are no more it hasn’t rained for same time. The grass is all brown and it is illegal to wash a car or water the lawns. The added construction and the increase in population has cut the water

(page 4) supply very low, in fact it has a muddy taste. It looks a little cloudy this P.M. but not too much like rain.

As quick as you decide definitely after you get the card back, what + when you are coming let me know and I’ll try to make some arrangements for you while you are here.

Well I’m about run down. Maybe a little later I can finish-

9:20 P.M. I’ve tried twice to call Jim and no success. In fact I’ve tried every eve this week and wrote him a letter and still no answer. He is still there but they can’t locate him.

I’m beginning to get pink from my sunburn and feel sorta hot all over. I’ll write more tomorrow eve Maybe I can send the registration card back

Love Daddy

Notes:

  1. This letter was written on the evening of Sunday, June 7, 1942 and was mailed the following morning. The Battle of Midway was being waged from June 4th through June 7th. The Battle of Midway “is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II”. To read more about the Battle of Midway, click here. This battle influenced my grandfather’s impending future over the next few weeks.
  2. Uncle Geo. was George Yagerline, brother of Roscoe’s father John Henry. George lived in Indianapolis, Indiana. His branch of the family changed the spelling of Yegerlehner to Yagerline.
  3. Dorothy was Dorothy Krull, one of my grandparents’ friends and neighbors in Kentland

Emily Hogue (Lawhead) Foster

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Today’s letter is very special. I believe it is the only letter I have in my collection by my great grandmother, Emma Foster. Chronologically, it falls right after my grandfather’s last letter. The two letters are postmarked the same day. Word is definitely getting around that my grandmother is heading to Norfolk. An added bonus (genealogically speaking) in the letter is that Emma ran into Uncle Wes and Aunt Jessie one night in Terre Haute. Uncle Wes is Silvester Schiele, my grandfather’s uncle. You may recall an earlier post I did on Silvester. His friends and family called him Wes for short. Wes and Jessie must have just come through Kentland on their way down to Clay City from Chicago.

My great grandmother’s story is one that I had to figure out mostly on my own. My grandmother gave me a little information to start with but the rest of the journey was all mine to uncover. Emma was a twin. Aunt Minerva, the one mentioned in the letter, was my great grandmother’s twin sister. One story that my grandmother did relay to me regarding her mother was the story of her naming. Emma Foster was born Emily Hogue Lawhead, daughter of James Henry Lawhead and his second wife, Margaret Allie Rea, on November 14, 1872. The twins were the second and third children of Margaret & James. Margaret was to have four more children, but none survived their infancy. Their oldest child was a boy, Jasper, who was born in 1869. When the twins were born, Margaret did not know what to name them. I suppose Margaret was out of the question as she already had an older step-daughter named Margaret. The story goes that Margaret named her daughters after the first two women who came to visit after the babies were born. I don’t know what Minerva’s middle name is so I haven’t been able to track down her namesake. There was a young woman named Emily Hogue who lived in the neighborhood so there does appear to be some validity to the story.

In 1894, when Emma was 22, she had a child out of wedlock. I have no idea who the father was. According to my Dad’s cousin Juanita, Emma talked about Jesse all the time but she didn’t know who he was. She assumed he was given away. On the 1900 census, Jesse was living with his grandparents, Emma’s parents. If he was given away, it wasn’t very far. Jesse lived with his grandparents and migrated with them to Arkansas. Jesse stayed in Arkansas after his grandmother died and his grandfather returned to Illinois. Another comment made by Juanita in one of her letters was that Emma had grandchildren but they were too far away. Jesse had three children: Alvin, Elwin and Francis. On his death certificate, Emma is named as his mother, but the line for his father is blank. Who knows what happened to this mysterious male in my great grandmother’s life? Was she raped? Did he run away? Why didn’t they marry? I have lots of questions and no solutions for solving this puzzle.

On February 29, 1896, Emma married James Edward “Ned” Foster in Hutsonville, Crawford, Illinois. I would love to say that he was a good man, and was able to accept Emma’s past. I don’t really have an answer to that. What I do know is that their marriage was a rocky one.  James was an alcoholic. Over the years, Emma threw him out several times. I assume in the beginning that things were good, but I really don’t know. Love works in mysterious ways, plus it might just have been all about the sex. James and Emma had at least five children. The ones who grew to adulthood were Lydia Allie, Glenn Edward, James Laughead, and my grandmother, Gladys Ruth. Evidence suggests that there was another child Forrest that died young. I have a photograph of a large family grouping. On the back it written: James, Emma, Lydia, Glenn & Forrest. Emma is holding Glenn and a baby on her lap in the picture while Lydia is sitting by her feet . Lydia was born in 1897 and Glenn in September  1900. There is a jump in births before James was born in February 1904. The 1900 census records that Emma is the mother of two living children; this would be Jesse and Lydia as Glenn wasn’t born until after the enumeration.  On the 1910 census, Emma is the mother of 6 children, 5 living.  The five would include: Lydia, Glenn, James, Gladys and Jesse.

I don’t know where or when baby Forrest died or where he is buried. The family moved back and forth between Crawford and Clark counties in Illinois and Terre Haute during these years. James was a laborer and he moved to where the work was. They were probably pretty poor and couldn’t afford a stone for Forrest’s grave. Both my grandmother and Uncle Jim were born in Terre Haute.  After that, I think the family pretty much stayed in Terre Haute. Sometime before 1920, Emma kicked James out for his drinking for good. On the 1920 census, James is not enumerated with the family. Emma’s profession was a pie baker for a Baking company.  Cousin Juanita also mentioned in one of her letters that Emma did this along with Aunt Cora. Cora Miller was one of James’ sisters. Apparently at one time, they all lived in the same building (but not on the 1920 census). A couple of the Terre Haute directories after 1920 record James and Emma living together but I think this might have been a smoke screen. Emma and James never divorced. Even on Emma’s death certificate, my grandmother reported that Emma was married.

Emma had a decent life but it was filled with hardship over the years. Any of these events would have broken a weaker person: an illegitimate child, an alcoholic husband, the death of a baby, being a single working mom, her beloved oldest daughter dying young, her grandson being killed in an accident. Her life could be measured by these tragedies but I would rather think of her as my grandmother’s mother, the woman who came to Kentland to help my grandmother while her husband was away at war, during the time after she had the baby (my father). I like to look at her pictures and her elusive smile. Yes, she does look old for her age in most of the pictures, but I look and I see a little part of me looking back at me, and it makes me proud to be her great granddaughter.

In school, Emma achieved a sixth grade education according to the 1940 census. While transcribing her letter I struggled between trying to make the letter readable and making an accurate transcription. If you want to see the actual letter, click on the pictures above.

This letter also mentions that Gladys’ mother-in-law, Lovina Yegerlehner, has not been feeling well lately and that Ruth has been home helping her mother while she was sick. Paired with yesterday’s letter from Roscoe which also mentions his mother not feeling well, that’s a nice bit of documentation from two corroborating sources.

Letter transcription:

6.8.42

Dear children + grandson

Receive your letter this morning. I had to go up to town yesterday afternoon + was walking along + seen a group of folks? standing in front of a restaurant first like that had their dinner, said to myself that look like uncle Wes + stop + look + sure among it was aunt Jessie, Mary Sheperman + some more I didn’t know so stoped + talked to them a litter whin? + they said that they stop at your house + seen you + the boy + that

(page 2) you was going to see Jake next week. Said that they would tell you that way seen me. I have had a letter from James + he never said anythins about seeing Jake yet James has got his insinmet[assignment] + will be there six month or a year he said I sure am glad that Ruth is at home with her mother this week it will help her as much as the medison[medicine]. I thought that I would get down there this week but it has been so hot here it seems to take all of the pep out of me your aunt Minerva is looking for me to come over there + stay

(page 3) a few day but can’t pick up the nerve to go. I am writing you some of her tales of woe. when I got up yesterday morning I felt like going back to bed + giving up the strnge[strength?] + say here lord take me I have a little more pep today. I don’t feel sick + can eat good but is seems like it don’t do my any good hade plenty to eat this is my tail of wo[e] I said to my self this sond like aunt Minera letter.

(page 4)I would like to hear John play at the resite[recital] hope that he comes out first it sure is hot today I hope that you do go + see Jake + get to see James it will cheer him up to see you if I had a place for the boys to sleep they could come + stay with me. I see so many dresses in the window up to down. I told Mrs. Welsere I was going to write + tell you about their that is the seersucker only haha will sign off

Mother love

©2012, copyrighted & written by Deborah Sweeney