Grandma's New House :: 1950

In The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 14 my Grandmother stated that she “went to work for a Chevrolet & Buick dealership in Auburn as head bookkeeper. At last I was earning a decent salary and had a new home built...”

I don't know the address of the house but it was out in the country near Auburn in Dekalb County, Indiana. I've asked my aunts and my mother if they knew the address but they don't remember.

This week my cousin gave me some things from her mother Phyllis (Phend) Mitchell. Among the photographs and miscellaneous papers was an envelope marked “Detailed cost of Mother's house she built in Auburn in 1950.” There was also a photograph of the house...

The house that Grandma (Hazlette Brubaker Phend Dunn) had built in 1950.

Building Supplies and Plumbing.

Plaster and Electricity.

Flooring and Cost of House ($5,250.86)

The thing I remember most about the house was the front step, with the upright brick edging. Many family photos were taken on those steps...

1951 – Me and my brothers.

1955 – Grandma with her grandchildren.

That's me, reaching toward my sister, probably to pull her thumb out of her mouth!

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 14 ~ Adult Life

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

Adult Life, continued

Vic was in very poor health [1] and about 1931 sold his business and we moved back to Columbia City. At this time we had only a very small income from the government so I went to work at the Oriental Show-U Sauce Company from six till midnight. Later Vic got total disability from the government and we moved to the country. There was no electricity or any conveniences, just old fashioned living. It would have been nice if everything had gone well, however, things became bad and after Shirley Ann was born in 1934 we moved to a country home near Larwill. Vic was working back in Fort Wayne again and we decided to try to buy a place of our own.

Matters became worse, I filed for divorce and the kids and I moved to Elkhart. There I baked pies for my brothers restaurant, cleaned houses, took in a boarder with two little girls, and eked out a living for us. Then my grandmother Brubaker-Bower died and left me an inheritance of $500.00. This allowed me to purchase the little house in Larwill and we moved there in 1938.

After a couple of years on an unbelievable small income, I was given the chance to buy a larger house. I took that chance; we moved into the big house, it was 1940. I got a few jobs, remarried Vic, tried working at Blue Bell with Phyllis but I was terrible. I worked for a trucking company in Fort Wayne for a while, and then finally went to work for Jewell Tea Company. I drove a truck for them for two years during World War II then went to work for an insurance company.

Vic and I divorced again [2] and I moved to Auburn. Another marriage, to Harold Dunn, fizzled out and again I was alone. Phyllis and Pat had both married while Ginny, Billy and Shirley stayed in Larwill with Vic.

I worked for a dry cleaning business, then a milling company in Butler. During this time I took a high school course and learned the double entry system of bookkeeping. Changing jobs once again, I went to work for a Chevrolet & Buick dealership in Auburn as head bookkeeper. At last I was earning a decent salary and had a new home built and had a very good life. I belonged to and was an officer in BPW (Business & Professional Women), worked in the Methodist Church, and had numerous friends. During this time I did some traveling; went to visit my son while he was in North Carolina, went to Traverse City and to Niagara Falls.

BPW Fashion Show.

She's got a tiara on so perhaps she was the Queen of the show!

Since I was getting older I thought I should get closer to my family. Both Bill's wife and Patricia were expecting babies and neither of them were very well. So I sold my home in Auburn and went to work for Bill at a weekly wage as his bookkeeper and helped out the girls, as it was needed. After little Billy Phend was on his way to being better and Ralph Victor Reiff was going strong, I took a job as the manager of Miller's Ice Cream Store at Five Points in Fort Wayne. I kept this job for three years then moved to North Webster where I opened a restaurant of my own.

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And, this (about 1961) is where she ended her story...

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[1] Grandpa Vic was gassed during WWI.

[2] Court records show that they were divorced July 7, 1937 and remarried on October 15, 1939. On July 17, 1945 they divorced for the second time.

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 13 ~ Adult Life

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

Adult Life

Just before the war ended I moved to Columbia City and began working for the larger "Home" Telephone Company.

I was still in Etna at the end of World War I. I had gone to Columbia City when Mama left the farm and had gone to work at the telephone office there. When Lodema Roth, the manager at Etna got the flu they sent me there till she was better. During that period the message came thru that the war was ended. I opened the keys on the switchboard and told everyone "the war is over". A short time later a message came that it was a false alarm. So I had to make another "all out" call - but only a few days later, on November 11, 1918 it really was over.

I was back in Columbia City and had gone home to lunch when our next door neighbor, Fred Howell, who was Wire Chief for the telephone company, came to our house and said, "Hazlette you must go pack for a few days stay at Arcola and catch the next train in half an hour." Well, I scrambled to get everything I needed and ran to the depot, which was just half a block from our house. The girl at Arcola had died and her family had moved away. Fred came over that afternoon and set up two cots - one for the neighbor girl and one for myself. He made arrangements for the restaurant to bring my meals. I only had to stay for one week while training the new girl. Then it was back to Columbia City.

During the next year I made lots of new friends. Maud Cramer and I hit it off at once and we were friends for the rest of her life. She and I double dated occasionally. Her future husband, Elmer Bump, and my future husband, Victor Phend, were one of these double dates!

Later I left the telephone company (the pay was terrible) and went to work at the Jet White Grocery, the first cash and carry store in the city. For a time I worked at Dr. Glock’s office in Fort Wayne, then went back to the phone company.

One day Lawrence Goble came in to the telephone office and asked me to come to work for him clerking and bookkeeping. I thought it was too big a job for me with no formal education. But he told me to write him a letter asking for the job, and he could tell from that. I wrote the letter and got the job as his "girl Friday" and worked there until Phyllis was born.

Hazlette Brubaker and Victor Phend. Her brother Bill in the background.

Probably about 1920.

Vic and I were married October 15, 1921 and Phyllis was born a year later. We lived in the Kissinger Addition and Vic worked in Fort Wayne; the government was paying him to learn the typewriter business. Patricia was born in 1926 and the next year we moved to Fort Wayne on Westbrook Drive. Virginia was born in 1928 and two years later, William Henry was born. He was the only one of the children born in a hospital (Lutheran) and the girls always thought you went to the hospital to get boys.

Note added 10 a.m. January 16, 2011 :: Born in 1902, Grandma would be 109 years old today! Happy Birthday Grandma!

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 12 ~ the Teenage Years

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

Growing Up, the Teenage Years

When we lived in Traverse City, there was a neighbor with a small baby; perhaps he was six months old. One day Mama dressed me up in my best clothes. I remember that she even put my little hat on me and said I was invited to a baptismal. I know I was the only other child there and I sat on a chair by the kitchen table and the baby was on the table. Then the Priest, the first one I'd ever seen one, came and said prayers in Latin and sprinkled the little fellow with water and soon it was over. I think there were refreshments but it was all very serious to me. I've always wondered why I was asked to witness the ceremony; I was the only one there outside the family. It seemed strange to me.

This leads me to think of another unusual thing. As a child were you ever a pallbearer? Well, I was, twice. At West Point Church, when I was about eleven years old, a little Snyder baby had died and four of us young girls were pallbearers. Then we moved to North Webster and that summer, Alfred Hamman's baby died and I was asked to be one of the pallbearers. These were not very pleasant to remember, but I do think they were unusual!

I should like to tell of one thing that happened about November of 1913. There were several Columbia City men that formed a Gun Club and had a cottage at Goose Lake. They were rather a wild, hard drinking bunch, and Mama and Papa were friends of the Mosher’s, who really ran the club. Well, this time in November, a number of fellows were out hunting on our farm.

One man shot Vance. He was a young man with a wife and small children. He was shot as he crossed a wire fence. The shot tore from his lower abdomen up through his body, and yet he lived. The men came to our house for blankets in which to carry him and as it was nearer to the Winter's house, they took him there. He was conscious, in a great deal of pain, and kept begging his friends to kill him.

Someone called Doctor Ben Linvill who refused to come. They called Doctor Dave Linvill, who also refused, as Vance was a poor man with no money. Doctor J.W.C. Scott of Etna was a man in his sixties, but he came in his horse and buggy and tried to save the man. With makeshift table, my mother held a kerosene lamp, and others gave ether to the poor man. Doctor Scott operated and Vance lived thru the operation only to die shortly after. The county buried him, of course, but I never knew what became of his family. There was no Welfare, Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid in 1913 or for many years to come.

In December 1913, when I was almost twelve years old, I became very ill. Doctor Nolt said it was a nervous breakdown and had me taken out of school. This seemed like the end of the world to me as I had hoped to be a teacher. As I was too young to work away from home, I helped Mama and that was how I came to do so many things so young. I also read everything I could.

The summer of 1914, Uncle Harl raised onions and I was allowed to help weed them. I earned $5.00 for this, and I still know what I spent it for - Youth's Companion Magazine, $2.00, ten Alger Books, $1.00 and the other $2.00 was spent for dress material for Jane and me. This was the first money I ever earned, but soon I was able to make more. While we were in North Webster the first dollar I earned was from a man who had me play his parlor organ for some people.

I also helped the lady that had a millinery store. I don't think I ever sold any hats for her, but I tried them all on. Jane and I both worked for a summer resort for a while. Then we moved back to the farm.

I went to work for Mrs. Anderson at Cedar Lake. She had crippling arthritis and was almost helpless. I was only fifteen years old but I sure learned a lot while there. I got sick again; this time it was appendicitis and an operation. Once recuperated, I began working at the Farm's Telephone Company at Etna.

My very good friend, Ermal Fruchy worked at the Home Office. There were two telephone companies in this area at that time but after World War I, the larger company bought out the other. This was the start of the present company in Whitley County. Ermal and I had a lot of good times and as we are still good friends we often reminisce and have many pleasant hours reliving these experiences.

The funniest one I'll have to record here. Mrs. Winebrenner, the blacksmith's wife, had two sons. One was in prison and was shot trying to escape. They sent his body to his Mother in Etna. It was the custom for someone to "sit up" with the corpse. No one in town would do it, so Ermal and I, two young girls twenty and sixteen years old, offered to do this. Well this would have been all right, but the other son of the family decided to do the same. We were not about to "sit up" with him so we excused ourselves about Midnight and went home to bed.

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 11 ~ Farming Life

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

Farming Life in the Early 20th Century

Papa had about 100 acres of tillable land to farm. The best 50 acres was Grandma's and Papa started clearing the woods, which was on good muck soil. He also started ditching to dry up our swamp, which was good only as pasture. A few years before, this swamp or prairie as Papa called it, was a cranberry bog. Mama said she always picked cranberries there when she was a girl.

The first year or two Papa raised crops like everyone else. Corn, oats, rye, etc. but he always had a problem getting help. When we first took over the farm in 1911, I was only nine years old, Jane and Bill were eight and six, and so we were no help. I remember one of the first hired men Papa got. They told us kids that Joe had been in prison. He had knifed a man and stuffed him into an outside toilet. The man had died and Joe went to prison for two years. Well, I don't think he liked to work very well and he soon left. Papa went to Fort Wayne and brought home John.

John Yosthrenski was Polish and could speak very little English; also, he wasn't much of a farmer. We all liked John and once during the summer he had three young men come for a Sunday. One was only fourteen years old, a large blonde, good looking boy and he had only been in the U.S. as long as John, but he spoke English as well as we did. His name was Buster Ostroski.

John stayed with us all summer and one day in late fall he went to town with Papa. They drank too much and on the way home John asked Papa to stop and he started to walk back home. When asked why, he said, "I won't let Hazlette see me like this." We never saw John again; I was probably ten years old when this happened. The folks then contacted an orphan's home and that is when we got Orville.

Orville Day was from Indiana Harbor and when his father died he was put in the orphanage. He was supposed to be fourteen years old, but the folks were sure he wasn't much older than me. He was a good boy, but had not gone to school and had a terrible personality. He lived with us as if he were our brother and when we eventually left the farm; he continued to stay on with whom ever bought it. We never knew where he finally went.

After Orville came, Papa began to raise tomatoes, cucumbers and cauliflower. He also tried onions. These crops he planned to take to Fort Wayne and sell at the Farmer's Market. He got a contract from Sears Company for the cauliflower. This one year he had a beautiful crop, about one acre. The plants were set out by hand, kid's hands, and it was hard work. We even tied up the plants so the cauliflower wouldn't sunburn. Sears reneged on the contract and all that hard work and money went down the drain.

This was what happened to much of Papa's farming. He stocked up on dairy cattle, and they got some kind of disease and had to be killed. About this time Papa got sick and was covered with boils and seemed to be out of his mind some of the time. The cattle probably had undulant fever and so Papa had that too. After feeling he was a complete failure, he rented the place to Uncle Harl and we moved to North Webster.

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 10 ~ Childhood on the Farm

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

Childhood on the Farm

Jane and Bill worked in the fields and milked cows, etc. while I helped Mama and raised the garden with Papa supervising. I baked all the bread for the family from the time I was eleven years old, also I cooked and baked cakes, but Mama always baked the pies.

Mama and Papa often gave parties. They both liked people and loved to entertain. We always had a party on the 4th of July or anytime that more than one of the family could come over. This, of course, meant Mama's family because Grandma Brubaker was all the family that Papa had.

On one 4th of July, about 1914, Grace and Lena Zintzmeister and Aunt Rose [1] were at Grandma Wise's. Papa bought a five-gallon tub of Ice Cream and made five gallons of lemonade in a big crock. He made tables in the front yard and they were loaded with good things to eat. This was a thing to remember always. Jane and I had new dresses to wear and were very proud of them. Papa always had fire works on the 4th.

Once Jane decided to have a party. She didn't tell Mama or me, she just invited all the kids that had practiced for the Children's Meeting. When we looked down the road and saw all these girls coming dressed in party clothes, we wondered where they were going and Jane said " Oh, I forgot to tell you they are coming here for a party!" Well, Mama and I got busy and while the kids played games we popped corn and Mama made fudge and they all had a grand time.

As we got older we had more formal parties and the biggest one was just before we moved to North Webster. When I was 14 years old Mama invited kids from three different neighborhoods. We really had a nice party with the living room, kitchen and dining porch all decorated and we played party games. It was lots of fun. This was the end of us as a family for Mama and Papa began to have more serious trouble while we were living in North Webster, and Grandma Wise died, and Mama and Papa finally separated.

We had fun all by ourselves that stay in my memory. One time when the yellow Harvester apples were getting over-ripe and had fallen to the ground, someone picked one up and threw it, this started the battle of the apples! It was confined to the dining porch and even though we had to clean it all up afterwards it still was lots of fun. This same thing happened with water on very hot days. Someone would toss a cup of water on Papa and then it really started. The supply tank was in the dining porch so it was real handy.

One of the fun times of "the good old days" was the last day of school. The teacher organized a program of entertainment and there was an enormous carry-in dinner. Every one in the district came and it was one of the highlights of the year.

As you older ones know, school was a one-room affair near Goose Lake, Scott School. My brother, sister and I went to the same school that both Mama and Papa attended. They seem to have had more interesting things to do than we did. For one thing there were older kids - not many went to High School as the closet one was Columbia City and this was in the horse and buggy days. They had spelling bees and Mama had won several prizes for spelling "down" the school. They had box suppers where the girls decorated boxes and filled them with goodies for the boys to buy at auction, then the girl would get to eat with whichever boy bought her box. It was all so simple, but when Mama or Papa would tell us about their good times, we always thought it was wonderful.

In the winter our walk to school, in below zero weather, was really terrible. No one ever said it was too cold or stormy to go. We just walked that mile, most of it with the wind off the frozen lake. One day I remember Mama had me wear her big shawl over my coat. I really didn't get too cold, but Jane and Billy nearly froze. I carried their dinner pails and gave Jane my mittens, but we had to work with her when we got to school - her fingers were frost bitten.

It was several years later that they had consolidated school in Troy Township. Thagrus Burns started to school after it was consolidated and rode one of the first "school hacks". He would have had almost twice as far to walk if they hadn't consolidated.

My parents were both friendly and loved having people about so we had lots of company. People from Huntington or Fort Wayne would drop in on Sunday mornings. I helped Mama many times to catch a couple of chickens, kill, dress, and fry them after the company came! This was before refrigeration and unless notified in advance of their coming, we had to get the freshest meat. I have often thought how easy they could have telephoned, but everyone seemed afraid of long distance phone calls.

We also had several friends who came and stayed for a while. One was Jack Smith, an old soldier and Civil War veteran. He would come for weeks at a time and when we were in Traverse City, he came and stayed a while, liked it so well that he rented a room upstairs and stayed until cold weather.

After we had been back on the farm for sometime, one of our old neighbors from Traverse City, Mrs. Gradop, came for a week and stayed and stayed and stayed! Mama got awfully tired of her and finally wrote her daughter to send for her. She was just "too much".

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[1] Aunt Rose was Rose Wise Zinsmeister, sister of “Grandpa” William P. Wise. Grace and Lena were her daughters. They lived in Lorain, Ohio.

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 9 ~ Goose Lake Farm

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

Goose Lake Farm, continued

The dining room had wainscoting about three feet high all around and this room was my favorite. It had the heating stove beside which we kids would always get dressed on cold mornings. There was a table upon which we played games and got our lessons, Grandma had a nice cupboard here and a couple of rocking chairs. There was a wall desk that I just adored - the front came down revealing pigeonholes with lots of things in it that us kids were not to touch! The telephone was in this room, which was the heart of the house.

And it was in this room that I recall my first Christmas tree. It was just before Billy was born. I had kept saying that I wanted a yellow doll (a doll dressed in yellow) and after all the gifts were removed and opened from beneath what I thought was an enormous tree, Papa lifted me up and there in the tree was a beautiful doll dressed in yellow!

Off this room was the parlor. When Grandma lived here it was very cold and formal. In fact I don't believe we ever went into this room except for Uncle Hale's funeral. But when we moved into this house in 1911 all that was changed and we used it always whenever we had company. Later Papa bought us a piano and we took music lessons and I guess this room just came alive.

Off this room was the great bedroom, which became Jane's and mine when we grew older. There was another bedroom off the dining room, which was the master bedroom. Mama would let me stay in that room sometimes when I was sick; I remember the pink roses in the wallpaper. This room was at the back of the house but you could see the orchard from the window. It was really lovely in the spring.

There were two large rooms upstairs and an enormously interesting attic. The large room in front had a closet that ran the full length of the room, this was Hale's room and it was sacred to Grandma and was kept locked. But after Uncle Hale died and we moved into the house this is where we kids slept. It was papered with a white rose paper that was lovely. The crab apple tree, which even now stands west of the house, would then touch the windows of this room and the perfume from the blossoms was so lovely, I can still remember spring mornings in that room.

The other room was never papered, the stair well was here and the entrance to the attic. And oh, what an attic! We were allowed to play here on rainy days and it was delightful. Grandpa had a civil war gun with musket and his knapsack. There were candle molds and the butchering equipment was kept here - sausage stuffer and lard renderer, the great big meat grinder attached to a bench. There were trunks of old clothes and books that I would give a lot to see now. This room had just one window but the chimney came up through here and it was always cozy. It also had mice and wasps, which nearly scared me to death - but I loved to go there anyway.

We had things to play with, but not toys like children have now. Papa put a large plank onto a stump in our orchard using a large bolt. As we pushed it around it made a noise that we called music on our Merry-go-Round. We would take turns pushing with one pushing and two riding. Then we had an old buckboard. We put ropes on it to guide and turn the wheels and we would push it up the rise to the house, give it a push and down we would go to the road. These things were really fun, but we soon outgrew them and had to do our farm work and housework like adults while we were still very young.

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 8 ~ Goose Lake Farm

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

Goose Lake Farm

I shall try to describe the farm and the house, as it was when Jane, Bill and I were kids. The house sets back from the road quite a distance, so that the front lawn was much larger than most places. As you drove into the barn yard thru the gate, you passed the granary which held both oats and wheat, and a corn crib which also served as housing for the spring wagon, buckboard and buggy.

Just north and east of the granary was the huge barn. The watering tank was placed under a large maple tree and it was always cool around the tank even in the hottest summer. There was a good fence around this part of the barnyard. The cows could stay under the barn's overhang, which was on the south side and on the east side above the stable doors. When we were small we could not go near the barn unless Grandpa took us - and it was a wonderful occasion when he would consent to a trip to the barn.

When we visited there one summer, I think it was in 1909, Grandpa owned a beautiful Stallion. When people brought their mares over to visit us children were absolutely not allowed to be there. I can remember the older members of the family saying that Grandpa was too old to have such a Stallion around.

The hen house was north of the barn but on an even path from the house. It was built new about 1909 and Grandma was extremely proud of it as it was very modern with a cement floor and had separate areas for feeding and watering and another for rooting.

Back of the new hen house was the one that was used as a hatching house even after Papa owned the farm. Each broody hen was put on fifteen eggs and there was food and water put in the building so that the hens could eat and drink. Thirteen weeks later there were little chicks all over!

Then we go to the house - first is the woodshed filled with wood, as that was their fuel for cooking and heating. It was cut during the winter months from the wood lot down near the lake. To the left is the windmill with the well supplying water to the house first and then piped down to the holding tank under the big Maple tree.

From the wood shed to the door and into the summer dining room we have been walking on a brick walk. And the small yard in front of the dining room and around the windmill was brick. This brick must have been there for years because even in 1909 it was green with moss.

I think that summer dining room was quite unique. There was an iron water tank in one corner that was enclosed by a modern cabinet with a lid on it; the tank held about forty gallons of water. This room was screened in on the north and south with a storage room to the east and the kitchen to the west. There were wooden doors that enclosed it all in the wintertime. There was as large cupboard that had been built years before and Grandma always had the room looking cool and nice.

The next room was the kitchen. I guess I can hardly tell you anything good about it, yet I learned to cook there on an old wood-burning stove. The entrance to the cellar was a trap door in the floor, you opened it and went down the ladder and hoped no one would fall into the opening while you were down below. The cellar was where the potatoes and onions were stored along with the canned fruits and vegetables; a hanging shelf was our refrigerator. The kitchen table was in the space beside this trap door and many was the time that we would have to open the door for milk or cream after we were all seated at the table. The ones that sat on the side near the door, usually Jane and Me, had to stand guard till the trip for cream was made.

On the other side was the buttery and pantry; it was just a big dark place to put everything. There were shelves and a table or sink. It was always dark as night, there were no windows and no kerosene lamp could take the awful dark away - or at least that is the way it seemed to me! There was a plastered room for meat and anything else eatable that freezing wouldn't hurt. This room was always locked.

There had been an addition to this kitchen and in the space between the pantry and the back door was a cistern pump with an iron sink. In 1909 this was quite a modern improvement. The stove was opposite the sink with the wood box and a cupboard.

It really seems very primitive but there were many delicious meals prepared and eaten in that kitchen. There was a screen door between the kitchen and the dining room, which was used as a dining room only on very rare occasions. But the screen door had been put up when we were very small so that Mama could keep an eye on us while working about the kitchen.

The House at the Goose Lake Farm ~ about 1914 ~ Uncle Thornton Brubaker (sitting on the stump, half-brother of William Brubaker), Jane, Orville Day (a hired man), Maud, Billy, Hazlette, Spot, and Charles Romain Brubaker. There are no pictures of the out-buildings that Grandma describes as they were torn down long ago.

The house as it is was on August 16, 2005. The current owners have a living room and master bedroom on the lower floor and two bedrooms upstairs. The kitchen is in the right side of the house. It now has all of the modern conveniences.

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 7 ~ Return to Goose Lake

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

Return to Goose Lake Farm

One night in mid-December 1910 a telegram came that changed all our lives. Uncle Hale, Papa's only brother, had died of pneumonia in New York City where he was attending Columbia University. He had only a few months to go before getting his degree and being admitted to the bar as an attorney. This death was a terrible shock and grief to my parents as they both loved him so much. He was a genius and widely known and loved. Papa and Mama were both terribly grieved.

In the morning following the receipt of the telegram I went to school for my books and we took the first train for home. I remember that the neighbors helped finish dresses for us girls and did many things to help Mama get us ready to leave. Only a few miles from Traverse City our train was stuck in the snow and before we resumed our journey our car was very cold. But we were finally on our way and arrived in Columbia City about 4:00 A.M. the next day. We had traveled from Fort Wayne on the same train as Uncle Hale's body. Papa took us to Aunt Betty's house and then rode with the hearse out to Grandpa's home at the farm.

This was a terribly sad time for everyone. There were so many people and there were so many floral gifts. One was a beautiful wreath of Magnolia Leaves from Thomas R. Marshall [1] and his wife. Uncle Hale had been a protégé of his. And there were gifts of wreaths from New York and Washington as well as those from many local friends.

Papa never went back to Michigan. Several weeks later Mama went to Traverse City [2], settled affairs there and packed our household goods and had them shipped to Columbia City. Papa picked them up in a dray (horse and wagon) and we got settled back on the farm where we were determined to stay for several years.

I think of this more and more and really wonder about it. Several beds and bedding, a set of "Mission Furniture" in the living room, such kitchen ware that only Walter Mitchell [3] would appreciate, a cook stove with a front apron - an antique when I was born. Freight must have been rather cheap at that time for surely the things were not worth much.

Forty years later I returned to Traverse City. The schoolhouse where I had spent many happy hours and the place on the Bay that I had often taken a book and spent an afternoon seemed to be much the same. Except the town was more a resort place with the lakefront built up and many summer homes there.

In the spring Grandma and Grandpa Brubaker moved to their home in Columbia City as we settled in at the farm. Before they moved we had to keep to our rooms upstairs as we made Grandma so upset. So we were happy to be free to roam again.

We thought our house was pretty nice, with the new mission furniture and Mama always had nice stands with pretty covers. Grandma left her organ for us and this made our living room. The dining room, which was our family room and place to study, was used as a dining room only on special occasions. It was furnished with table and chairs, always a heating stove, and the telephone was here in the corner. It was a boxlike affair and was very new.

The rooms were carpeted with rag rugs, woven by looms, and in the front sitting room, a manufactured ingrain carpet. These were laid down with carpet tacks every few inches, then someone would stretch the carpet as tight as they could and finally tack it all around the room. When cleaning the carpets, salt was strewn on the floor and then swept with a broom. In winter, snow was used to keep the dust down. No one had ever heard of vacuum cleaners!

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[1] Thomas R. Marshall was a Columbia City attorney who was the Governor of Indiana 1909-1913 and later in 1913 became the 28th Vice President of the United States serving for eight years under Woodrow Wilson.

[2] Article in the January 14, 1911 issue of the Columbia City Post, Whitley County, Indiana: “Mrs. C.R. Brubaker, who went to Traverse City, Michigan, to look after the shipment of the household goods, was stormbound for three days and did not arrive here until Wednesday. A great snow storm was raging in northern Michigan. The C.R. Brubaker family will make their home with his father, Wm. Brubaker in Troy township.”

[3] Walter Mitchell was her son-in-law and a collector of all kinds of “old stuff” that he bought and sold.

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 6 ~ Life at Traverse City

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

Life at Traverse City

I must tell of the things we did here. In the spring we went to the woods for Arbutus. This fragrant little flower would bloom while some snow was still on the ground, under the oak leaves. We would turn the leaves back and there were the lovely little wax white flowers. They have a beautiful scent and I'd love to see some of them once more. In the summer we gathered wild strawberries and later, ground huckleberries (wild blueberries) all so good and fun to pick. In the fall there were many small puffball mushrooms, which I loved to gather and the family liked to eat. The wintergreen berries were nice in the fall; we loved to nibble them.

Decoration Day of 1909 an old Civil War soldier was to talk to my second grade class. Our teacher asked us all to bring flowers. We had no garden at the time and I didn't know what I could take. I was just mortified to go to school without any flowers so I told Mama and she came through. She took two white Geranium blossoms, one red one and a leaf or two. She found some blue ribbon to tie them together. And the next day at school the old soldier took my red, white and blue offering and held it with all the other beautiful bouquets about him - I was so proud of it.

One thing I remember is still a mystery to me. We had moved to another house in Traverse City and one of our neighbors was Catholic. They had a baby about eight months old and probably I had been with him a lot. One day Mama dressed me up in my best clothes and I went to this home. I was the only "outsider" there and a priest came and baptized the baby. I sat beside them, the baby and the priest, and watched this in wonder. I still wonder why I was there for I was only seven or eight years old. And I wonder if the little fellow was sick, but I'll never know.

There were bad times there too. Papa and Jack Smith came home one night, late and intoxicated. Sometimes Papa became very abusive to Mama when he was drunk. And this was the very worst time of all. I ran across the street and told Mr. Giadop that my Papa was sick and to please go to him. I guess he really settled him down, Papa walked all night. When he came home there was a bad mark on his head where I had hit him with a stove poker, but he never knew that I had done it. It hadn't helped at all and it always hurt me to know that I'd injured my beloved Papa.

The Jack Smith I tell you about was an old Civil War Veteran from Columbia City. He had never married and had no relatives, at least not close enough to care for him, so he came to Traverse City to be with us. He rented a room there and every Pension Day he would take one of us kids to the movie (5 cents) and buy us a small gift and candy. How we all loved Jack, and when we came back home he did too and we always visited him whenever we went to town.

After we had been in Traverse City some time the folks bought a house at 838 State Street. This was a nice little house, about one block from the Bay, near the school and Jane went to kindergarten. There was no church near our neighborhood but on the way to school I saw that there was a Missionary Church in an old store building. So I started going there for Sunday school.

I had been steeped in religion thru Grandma Brubaker and Grandpa Wise. They both said grace at every meal and Grandpa would sing old hymns to us as he rocked us in his rocking chair. I also had gone to church with Grandma Brubaker many times so I was very religious as a small child. My Sunday school teacher said once that if a child died without baptism, he would go to Hell. I always remembered this but it never worried me because I believed so much in the gentle Jesus and knew he would never harm a small child. So I guess I began to form my own opinions at an early age - I was thirteen years old before I was baptized.

Some of this time Mama sold magazine subscriptions. She had a lot of samples and we kids loved to cut out the dolls, etc. which McCall’s always had. Other children learned about this and we sold these to the other kids. I don't remember how much we charged, probably pennies, but we felt like we were rich merchants.

We often had pennies to spend, and boy, what fun you could have with a penny. Even little penny dolls could be purchased and I bought many of these. Also long licorice whips; those were my favorites. Once Chloie Davis (Papa's cousin) and her husband came to visit us. He gave us each a dime to spend and we were millionaires for a short time.

One time a schoolmate asked me to a picnic. There were about seven of us kids and the picnic was in a woods near the school. We had bananas and cookies and a lot of candy. Later we learned that the boy, our host, had used his grandmother's charge account and had thrown this party without the knowledge of any grownup. This was really bad and all of us kids were questioned.

We were all happy in Traverse City. Mama and Papa had a good social life here. They joined the Spanish American War Vets and Auxiliary. And though Papa became intoxicated several times and this was always bad, still, they made up afterwards and were very happy.

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 5 ~ Move to Traverse City

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

Move to Traverse City, Michigan

When Mama came from the hospital we had to get a home to live in where Papa could keep house and work at making a living too. So we moved into Sanford Tinkham's home. There Papa baked our bread, did our laundry, etc. and helped Sanford at his sawmill. This was a house in the woods and the sawmill was in the center of the wood. I was enchanted. I expect I was allowed to roam about freely because Mama was weak and ill, and Papa was so busy. But I learned a lot about the woods, and loved it all. I learned about the trees and the wild flowers. I remember looking for babies in the hollow stumps, where my parents had assured me they came from. It was years before I found a baby and then it wasn't in a hollow stump!

Now Papa had the wanderlust again, and as soon as Mama was able to care for herself he moved the family back to Grandma Brubaker's, and he went to Traverse City, Michigan. (Note: This was the time the pictures were taken of Mama and us kids.) He got a job and rented a house and soon we were on our way again.

Taken about 1909. Jane is on the left, then my grandmother Hazlette, and their brother William Hale. Their mother, Maud Wise Brubaker is the pretty lady seated behind them.

We left Fort Wayne on the G R & I, and in Grand Rapids we changed for Traverse City. The train from there on was old and very slow, stopping often. A foreign (to us) family on the train was kind to us and gave us things to eat. I remember cookies with caraway seeds, the first caraway seeds I had ever eaten. Well, Jane and I were very "car" sick, and kept Mama and several friendly women busy caring for us. Billy slept through it all. It must have been terrible for Mama; I know it was for me!

Our first home was on Peninsula Avenue, facing the Grand Traverse Bay. I thought it was wonderful. The water has always fascinated me and this seemed so wonderful to me. This was the happiest time of our lives as a family.

I was in the second grade and my teacher, Miss Stevenson, had been to Yellowstone National Park the summer before. She talked about this all the school year and told us many things about the park that winter. I always wanted to see the wonders of the Park, and finally, when I was 64 years old and married to Fergie [1], we went there. It was just as my old teacher had told, it almost seemed as if I had been there before and I sure enjoyed it.

The first Christmas that we spent in Traverse City Papa and I went out into the forest, which at that time came close to town, and he cut a beautiful Christmas tree and began to drag it home. It was quite large. A man on a bobsled came by and we rode home dragging the tree behind us. Then Papa decorated it with real candles, popcorn that Mama and us kids strung on thread, and some cranberries, also strung on thread. I thought it was beautiful. This was a beautiful time. Our house faced the bay and I remember how cold it looked in winter and how we all loved it so. The air was so pure and one morning Mama sent us outside to play. A neighbor came over and said it was 20 degrees below zero so we had to stay inside. But we were never uncomfortably cold; it was a wonderful climate.

Mama and Papa had friends here from Whitley County, Lulu Eisaman and Elmer Arnold. We called them Aunt and Uncle and loved them as much as if they had been relatives. Aunt Lulu had taken a baby girl to raise and they came to our place for Christmas. While the grownups got ready for Santa, we children went next door to the Wade's and looked at Magic Lantern slides. This was wonderful entertainment, and then we went back home to receive our gifts, which Santa had left under the tree. This little girl that Aunt Lulu had later died and in due time she adopted a little baby boy, named Paul, and he was a real son to them.

I know that Papa worked at different things while we were there. He was very mechanically inclined and could do almost anything. Papa worked in an Oval Dish Factory. They made the little wooden dishes that were used to put lard, peanut butter, etc. in at the grocery stores. He received $1.00 per day and worked six days a week, twelve hours a day. In fact, we hardly ever saw him except on Sundays. Uncle Elmer worked in a foundry and one Sunday morning Papa took me there to see him. Of course there was no fire going on Sunday, but he was making molds, or something like that and it was just a very black hole of a place. A foundry is still a bad place to work, but then it was terrible. Uncle Elmer died a few years later.

Papa left the Oval Dish factory after a time and worked for the City Transportation. They had purchased some kind of streetcars and Papa operated one of them. It was just a big automobile like affair with seats, something like the first school busses. Papa was a good mechanic and liked this job. He also worked at the Yacht Club repairing motors in the launches for a time; I think he was doing this when we left.

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[1] She married Raymond Austin Ferguson on February 17, 1964.

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 4 ~ Papa, Mama and the Children

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

Papa, Mama and the Children

In due time Papa came home; they lived on the farm at Goose Lake and Grandpa and Grandma moved into Columbia City where Uncle Hale entered high school. In February 1901, Mama gave birth to a little premature boy. John Wise Brubaker he was named but he lived only one week. He died in Mama's arms, this was a shock to Mama and she would talk of it for years. They buried him in Scott Cemetery just north of the schoolhouse where they both had gone to school. It is only about one mile from the farm.

Soon after this, they moved to Lorain, Ohio. Mama's brother Harry and other relatives lived there. Papa got a job fishing commercially. On January 16, 1902, I was born. Also premature I weighed in at only 2 1/2 pounds. They despaired of my life. They tell me they kept me in a bureau drawer lined with cotton and when they had to hold me I was placed on a pillow. One of the crazy things they told me was that when I cried for sometime, a neighbor asked Mama if she had craved anything before I was born. She said yes she had, gooseberries. So they gave this tiny baby some gooseberry juice and she was satisfied and went to sleep (Ha Ha). For several weeks I was in a precarious condition but in a few months I was a big fat baby. They said it was Mellon Food that caused my recovery and I was a very healthy child.

When I was about six months old we came back to Indiana, to a small farm on the Loon Lake road just south of the family farm. On April 14, 1903 my sister Choella Jane was born. It was such rainy bad weather and no one could get through the muddy side roads. Doctor Alice Williams from Columbia City had a difficult time getting to the delivery. Aunt Hazlette Burns was there and she had a little pug dog. She put a note for Grandpa Wise around his neck and sent him home. Then Grandpa Wise walked the five miles or more to see his new granddaughter

Two years later and at least one more move, this time back to the farm, my brother Bill (William Hale) was born on February 22nd 1905. Doctor Alice and Aunt Hazlette were both there again this time. I can remember Aunt Hazlette bringing us girls into the room to see our little baby brother, and I think I can still remember the way he looked and I asked to see his feet, which I thought were remarkable. Mama was a semi-invalid and had help all of the time and Papa took care of us kids at night. I'm not sure why but we would be at the farm for a while then move some place else but when Billy was about one year old we moved again.

We first moved to Emaline and Rose Robert's place near Grandpa Wise. This was a log cabin house surrounded by an old fashioned garden. I can still remember the perfume of the old fashioned flowers; the daffodils, sweet William and the perennial sweet peas and the lilacs and other flowering shrubs. To me it was paradise and even today I am transported back 70 years when I smell narcissus. It was wonderful for little girls to play in and Papa bought a horse and said I could name it. It was Dora, because in my excitement I found a door so male or female, I named the horse Dora.

While living at the Robert's place, Jane was about three years old and having difficulty with her speech. She always said "Me" instead of "I". One evening Papa placed her in a high chair and left her in the dark kitchen, the door was open into the living room, and he told her she could come into the living room when she said "I". After a short time she began to cry and said, "Oh Papa, me tan't say I." Of course Papa took her into his arms and never again tried to make her say "I" and after that let her speak, as she liked. She said a lot of funny words but he let her alone.

While we lived here, Mama had to go to Columbia City to the doctor so often that Papa decided to move to town. I don’t remember the first house but Papa started a rug-weaving factory in a small building. He had a couple of looms and had Horty Bills work with him in making carpets. Some were made of rags, which had been sewed into long strips. They were woven with rug cord into long sections then sewn together to make the correct width and length. The other loom took ingrain carpeting (old) and made it into a fluffy kind of carpet. I wish I knew the process but whatever it was it became obsolete when oxminster carpeting became in vogue. It seemed to do well and we moved into a three-story brick house on North Line Street; it is still standing. He put his looms in the basement and did very well, I think.

I was old enough to remember most of this. I helped Mama, she was sick most of the time, and I can remember how proud I was to do some of the work. Grandma Wise had Billy most of the time and we were so happy whenever she brought him home. He was a beautiful little boy and Grandma made Buster Brown suits and really spoiled him, but he was a darling little boy. He sure loved them a lot and remembers their love of him.

After a time Papa sold his looms and took a job of some kind and we moved to a little house on North Elm Street. We were living there in the fall of 1907 when I started to school. Miss Mary Raber was the first grade teacher in the West Ward School. She knew our family and said if there was room I might start, even though I was only five years old. On the second day of school they accepted me and this is a time I'll never forget. It was such a wonderful thing to be able to read and write. I was so proud and happy.

It seemed we were always poor but Mama was able to get us what we needed. On Valentine's Day I just had to have some Valentines to give to my friends. Now, I don't think very many kids could buy Valentines but you always had one or two boy friends and you just had to give one to them. So Mama took some paper and cut it into heart shapes and she took a begonia blossom and used it as a pattern and decorated the heart with these. She made beautiful Valentines for me to give. I don't remember who I gave them to, but I'll never forget how lovely they were.

I have many fond memories of this time but Mama got worse all the time. She became very sick, they called it Tuberculosis of the ovaries. In early spring she went to the old Methodist Hospital in Fort Wayne and had a complete hysterectomy. So with Mama in the hospital, Jane and I went back to Grandma Brubaker's on the farm and of course Billy was with the Wise grandparents. I finished first grade at Scott's School, with Harper Waugh as my teacher.

Grandma Brubaker was very stingy although she was very well to do, with a 200 acre farm and two houses in Columbia City. When she packed my lunch for school she gave me half of a boiled egg. I remember that when we asked for sugar for our cereal she would say, "Don't ask for things not on the table." But I guess she was good to us in her own way and probably Papa imposed on her. I do know that he trimmed her large orchard and worked constantly on the farm while we were there but it seems that Grandma never made Papa happy and he could never do anything to please her.

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 3 ~ Papa and Mama

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

Papa and Mama

My father was Charles Romain Brubaker, who was born in Troy Township in Whitley County, Indiana, August 15, 1872 [1]. His father always called him Charlie and his mother called him Romey. If he had a split personality I think this may have contributed to it. He loved the farm and as a very young boy, and into manhood, he worked hard on the beloved farm that his father had bought when he returned from the Civil War. However, his mother wanted him to become a doctor and sent him to Valparaiso to college.

I do not know how long he stayed there, but long enough that his classmate, Carl Sauder, told us that he was a very bright student and might have been an excellent physician. In time he tired of college and took off for Chicago. There he worked as a newspaper reporter. He then left for the Northern Michigan lumber camps; here he was in his glory. While we children were growing up he told us many stories of his life in the lumber camp of the Indians and the rough men. He loved it all.

In the fall of 1896 he returned to the home farm. He began courting Maude Catherine Wise, against the wishes of her family. So in February 1897, he and Maude eloped and were married by a Methodist minister in Larwill. Her parents refused to let him enter the house when they came for her clothes, but they soon relented. And though they never fully approved of him, the two families were friendly for many years.

Romey and Maude set up housekeeping in Huntington, Indiana. They were very happy and carefree for a time. Then came the Spanish American War. Romey just didn't have a thought about enlisting; it seemed just a very small affair. But one day his mother drove down to Huntington and demanded that he enlist. She told him that his father would disown him if he didn't. Well, he enlisted and was soon in Cuba. He was a mess sergeant.

Charles Romain Brubaker is the second man from the right.
On duty in Cuba. 1899.

Papa was out "scouting" in the jungle. He heard a voice call "Hello". He crept on his knees closer and closer to the voice. Then to his everlasting embarrassment, he saw a parrot, one that had possibly been trained to speak and had escaped into the wild. The parrot was with several wild ones and seemed to be trying to teach them to speak English.

Later, he contracted Malaria Fever, so prevalent in the swampy country. He was taken to the hospital where Catholic Nuns were the nurses. He was very sick and they put him into a ward reserved for the dying, when he made a miraculous recovery. He always praised these wonderful women whom he credited for saving his life.

While Romey was in the service of his country, Maude was trying to live her life as best she could. Mama was a very small girl, weighing only 98 pounds when she married and only 89 pounds while Papa was in the army. She was a brunette and very attractive. Mama had gone to live with Papa's parents. She and Grandma Brubaker never got along as both of them had terrible tempers. As she had very little to keep her busy, Mama got a job selling books about the Civil War so that she could be on her own some of the time. She always enjoyed meeting people and this was good therapy for her as she missed her husband so very much.

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[1] The Civil War Pension Application for Charles' father gives Charles' birth date as August 15, 1871 while Charles' gravestone gives his date of birth as August 19, 1871. An obituary gives his birth date as August 19, 1870.

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 2 ~ The Beginning, continued

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

The Beginning ~ A Brief Family History, Continued

Grandpa Brubaker was born "out of wedlock". His mother became pregnant several months after her cousin by the same man, John Brubaker. He married the cousin but he acknowledged Grandpa as his son and we were always quite close to several of Grandpa's half brothers especially Sam, a school teacher in Fort Wayne and Thornton who worked for the Erie Railroad in Huntington.

His mother, Sarah Foster, married George Parkison and they came to Indiana when Grandpa was eight years old. He was raised with the Parkison boys but always went by the Brubaker name. He enlisted in the Army when sixteen years old and has a very fine record from the Civil War. When he came home he married Malissa Mariah Joslin and they settled on the farm at Goose Lake. They had Papa (Charles Romain) and fifteen years later another boy, Maurice Hale, was born.

Papa was supposed to be a doctor and he attended Valparaiso College for a couple of years. He dropped out of school and went to Chicago where he was a newspaper reporter, then to upper Michigan where he worked as a lumberman. When he thought he was thru wandering, he came home and married Maud C. Wise. A few months after getting married he enlisted in the army and served in Cuba as a Mess Sergeant during the Spanish American War. When he came home he still wanted "action". Mama said they moved eighteen times during their married life, which ended by divorce when Papa enlisted in 1918 and was a Mess Sergeant in the First World War. Papa lived to be 74 years old and died in Mobile, Alabama at the veteran's hospital. His home was near Pascagoula, Mississippi and he had remarried in the early 1920's.

There are a lot of Brubaker's around Huntington and in this area. They are all descendants of John and two of his brothers. I am not acquainted with any of the younger generation, meaning mine. But Grandma's family abounds in this area and in the west, especially Kansas. All of the Goodrich's are from the Bela Goodrich clan. One of Lysander's sisters was grandmother to Gladys Burnworth Moore Winebrenner, who has always been a friend of mine.

Grandpa William Wise was born in Miami County, Indiana and came with his parents, Jacob and Malissa, to Whitley County when one year old. I think that they came to Indiana from Pennsylvania via the river route with both sets of grandparents. When they came north the Wise grandparents stopped at or near Roan and the Stems (his mother's family) came on with his parents and they also settled in Thorncreek Township on a farm near Crooked Lake.

When Grandpa Wise was twelve years old his father was drafted into the Army during the Civil War. This made Grandpa the head of the family as his father died of "homesickness" at Nashville soon after leaving. He was buried in Nashville National Cemetery and Mama, Aunt Hazlette, and Grace Zinsmeister visited his grave in the 40's. Just a month after Jacob's death, Malissa gave birth to their fourth child, Rose. [1]

As the eldest child, William took charge of the farm for several years until his mother married Jacob Scott. Then Grandpa met Sophia Dunfee and they too were married. Grandma Wise taught school for a year after they were married then had a son, Harry and later, twins, Maurice and Maud (my mother). Ten years later a daughter, Hazlette, was born.

The family of William P. Wise - Harry, Sophia, Maude, William, and Maurice.
Hazlette, seated in front.

August 4, 1976. Well, I did get a little writing done. I do hope some one of you kids enjoy it. Maybe one of the grandchildren or great grandchildren will really get some good out of it. Today the doctor says they found nothing wrong (no tumor) but I'm going to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne tomorrow for a liver scan. Last night Phyllis and Walter were here and as Walter left he said, "The Lord will take care of this." I said that I knew this but really I meant that he would stay by me and comfort me, but in the night my pain left me. Walter has such wonderful faith that I believe he could move mountains and I know that if it's God's will, I shall get home again. [2]

Yesterday the florist brought the most beautiful arrangement of dark red gladiolas and daisies. It was from Marilyn, Kent and Bartie. [3] They are so lovely and I sure appreciate them. Everyone that comes in the room says they are quite outstanding.

August 7, 1976. After a couple of days of clouds and rain, this morning the sun is shining and it is beautiful. I am feeling fine, it seems silly to be in a hospital but I'm supposed to stay here till the scans are finished which will be Thursday. So I will have been here almost two weeks. But really I am enjoying it. There are several old acquaintances from my early youth and we have fun talking over "old times".

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[1] Jacob Wise was drafted into the Army on October 5, 1864 just a little over a month after his son Sylvester had died and just two weeks before the birth of his daughter Rosilla. He died in a hospital at Nashville, Tennessee on May 17, 1865 of chronic diarrhea.

[2] Phyllis is Grandma's daughter, and Walter is Phyllis' husband.

[3] Marilynn is a granddaughter, Kent was Marilynn's husband, and Bartie was their son.

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Part 1 ~ The Beginning

If you haven't already done so, you may want to read The Introduction to this series of posts.

The Beginning ~ A Brief Family History

August 14, 1972. Yesterday my cousin from Wichita, Kansas, Helen Curtis [1], with her husband Gerald, came to my home to look over my genealogy books. We had a very good time and after our dinner at the M & M we went to the Adams cemetery to visit the graves of the four little girls our grandparents Joslin lost and also the gravesite of our oldest ancestor to be buried in Indiana, Bela Goodrich. Born in 1776, he came to Whitley County with his family in 1838.

Working with Helen I became enthused again with the genealogy and have worked all day on the records. I had planned on writing a book so that my children might know more about their ancestry. I am afraid I am too lazy and I know that I have no talent for writing. My typing is almost as bad as my handwriting and my spelling is outrageous.

When we were going thru Grandma Brubaker's letters from her parents and her sisters, I began to realize how important they were to Helen and me even though they were very poorly written and not always well done as to spelling and punctuation. So I have decided to write as I feel the urge and as I remember things and have a lot of enjoyment in doing it this way.

Because of Helen, I shall begin with the Joslin family. My Grandma Brubaker (Malissa Mariah Joslin) was one of fifteen children. Of these five died in childhood and four were married before 1877 so that there were just six children and the parents that made the trip to Kansas in 1877. I believe they went by covered wagon with all their worldly goods traveling along. Soon all but one of the four married children went west too, my grandparents were the only ones to remain in Whitley County. [2]

The father, Lysander Joslin and his wife Lydia made their home in Osage county, Kansas. They had a small farm there and this was their home until their death in 1899, she died January 25th 1899 and he followed on May 14th. [3]

Recently I have been fortunate enough to find two of their great grandchildren, Erwin Joslin of Peoria, Illinois who is the grandson of Luther, and Helen Curtis, granddaughter of Minerva.

The first of our ancestors arrived in Whitley County on July 16th 1838. They settled near the place that later became the village of Lorain. [4]

The eldest of the party was Bela Goodrich, 62 years old and the father of Price, Eunice, and our direct ancestor, Abigail. She was married to James Joslin and their oldest son was Lysander Price Joslin.

These pioneers were enterprising, brave, honorable people. They helped organize the township and were listed in the Whitley County history as being among the first voters. Eunice Goodrich was the second bride in Richland Township when she married David James, they have descendants living in Larwill.

Price Goodrich was very well known. He was a judge, minister of the Methodist church, and brick layer. Many of the early buildings in the area were built by his hand. His home was one of the first brick buildings to be constructed in Whitley County and it still stands today east of Lorain on old Highway 30.

August 3, 1976. Just read over the little I wrote in 1972. I certainly have accomplished a lot in four years! Well, here I am in the hospital and I have a pretty good idea that I haven't a lot of time left to write. [5]

The second ancestor to arrive in Whitley County was Grandma Jones and her five children. The second daughter, Catherine was our direct ancestor. She married William Hamilton Dunfee and their daughter Sophia Elizabeth, was my Grandmother Wise. She was named for her father's mother, Sophia Elizabeth Hazlett. This is how I got my name. Grandma Wise named aunt Hazlette for her grandmother and then Mama named me for Aunt Hazlette.

Sophia Elizabeth Hazlett was born on the ocean when her parents were migrating from Ireland or Scotland. Hazlett is an English name but could be from any of the countries in Britain. [6]

The Dunfee's came to Whitley County several years after Grandma Jones and her young children. Grandma Jones and her five children loaded their possessions into an ox cart; she and the children walked most of the way. They arrived in Whitley County on Halloween night.

Uncle Curt, who was an attorney, would have a small article in the newspaper each Halloween telling of their first night in the county. They were in a cabin, which I expect was in Hell's Half Acre, south of Columbia City near where the Helms family lived. She was a Helms before her marriage. Uncle Curt says that the cabin was half way between two Indian camps and the night was filled with the sounds of the Indians. He wrote as if they were frightened and who wouldn't be, just five young people and their Mother alone in the wilderness and surrounded by "wild" Indians. Soon after, the Indians were all sent further west.

The Jones family was very prominent. The eldest daughter, Maxia, married Franklin Foust, a wealthy banker and founder of the first bank in Columbia City.

Grandmother Dunfee must have been a very wonderful lady. She took in a young orphan girl to raise and she was treated exactly like her own children. My grandmother was very jealous of this girl. One time a neighbor of the Dunfee's had scarlet fever and Grandmother Dunfee went to care for the family. When she came home Grandfather Dunfee met her near home and she changed clothes before going into the house. But even with these precautions, two of her own children caught the fever and died.

From this family we are the only ones in this area that I know of, except for the Cornelius family. Franklin Jones was a blacksmith in Columbia City. He had a shop across from where Demoney's Funeral Parlor is. He was a typical blacksmith, large and brawny. He married a Spencer and their daughter, June Dell, lives in Arizona. But all of the Dunfee family and McNabbs and some of the Rabers were cousins.

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[1] Helen Curtis was the granddaughter of Minerva Joslin Knight, sister of Malissa Joslin. Helen was born November 29, 1910 in Iola, Allen County, Kansas and was the daughter of Nellie Gertrude Knight and Bert Alva Sutton. She married Gerald Curtis on June 24, 1933. They lived in Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas. Gerald died May 9, 1982 and Helen passed away on December 19, 1984.

[2] Lysander and Lydia (Robison) Joslin went to Iowa in late 1866 or early 1867. Their oldest daughter, Anna Eliza, and her husband William Klingaman had moved to Jefferson County, Iowa a few years after their marriage in 1865. The last 2 children born to Lysander and Lydia were twin boys, Elmer and Elmus, born in Iowa June 4, 1868. Elmer died on June 30, 1868. In August, 1868 Lysander re-purchased the property he had sold in Whitley County in October 1866 and the family, with the exception of Anna Eliza returned to Whitley County. In 1877, they sold the land again and moved to Kansas with eight of their children. Malissa was the only one that remained in Whitley County.

[3] The first home for the Joslin family in Kansas was in Barton County. They resided there from 1877 to 1891 when they moved back east to Osage County near Lyndon, Kansas.

[4] Lorain is located on old U.S. 30 in present day Richland Township. From 1838 until the mid 1860’s it was a part of Troy Township.

[5] Grandma was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. She had a colostomy and her left leg was amputated. Even though doctors said she had only a little while to live, she managed to hang on for eight more years.

[6] Census records show that Sophia Hazlett was born in Pennsylvania, probably in the area of York and Adams counties.

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker :: Introduction

What will follow in this series of posts is the story of my Grandmother, Hazlette Aileen Brubaker Phend Dunn Ferguson, written in her own words. Words that were sometimes scribbled in pencil, scattered throughout several wire-bound notebooks and on loose pieces of paper. Since the stories were not written in any particular order they are arranged here in what seemed, to me at least, to be a logical sequence.

I have taken the liberty of adding hyperlinks to the blog posts that have been written about some of the people she mentions. For clarification, in a few instances, additional information has been added at the bottom of the posts as noted by numbers within square [ ] brackets. And, of course, I'm adding family photographs, some which have been used in previous posts.

Grandma was born 109 years ago (January 16, 1902). She grew up mostly in Troy Township, Whitley County, Indiana although she was born in Lorain, Ohio and lived for a time in Traverse City, Michigan. Her roots were in Whitley County. Twenty-six of her ancestors lived in Whitley County with several arriving as early as 1838. They came from Ohio: Champaign, Delaware, Holmes, Perry, Muskingum and Wayne counties. And before that from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.

I remember sitting with her, going through her genealogy book, of which she was extremely protective and proud, and which held her pedigree charts, family group sheets and some photographs. But, like many researchers, my interest came along too late. It was not until after her death in 1984 that I became enthralled with the family history. By then it was too late to ask the questions that needed to be asked, questions that could have only been answered by her.

Although the information on her family group sheets was not documented in any way, it was invaluable to me in my early research. Basically all I had to do was locate the documents to “prove” her research, and almost all of her data has been found to be accurate. Grandma had a nearly-full five-generation pedigree chart - missing only one set of great-great-grandparents. She also had several lines back another generation or more. In a few cases I have been able to extend the ancestral lines back a little further, but most are still quite elusive.

Pedigree Chart #1 - Five Generations (almost)

Nancy Neal's parents are James and Rebecca (Franks) Neel. The parents of Benjamin Foster are William and Magdalena (Daniel) Foster. The maiden name of Margaret Foster was Meyers, and I've found her parents, John and Margaret. I think that the parents of Jacob Wise are Peter & Christina, but haven't found definitive proof yet.

Pedigree Chart #2 - Joslin/Goodrich

Both the Joslin and Goodrich lines have been extended back to the immigrant New England ancestors. However, the parents of Sally Church are not Ebenezer and Eunice Garnesy Church. And the parents of Abigail Price still elude me.

Pedigree Chart #3 – Stemm/Ciceley

The lineage of Indiana Sisley has been extended several generations, but the parents of Conrad Stemm are still unknown.

Pedigree Chart #4 – Jones/Helms

The parents of Conrad Helms have been found, and his wife's maiden name is Swigart but I've not gotten any further with her line. And the Jones line? You would not believe how many William Joneses there are in Muskingum County, Ohio in the 1840s!

Pedigree Chart #5 – Robison

I now know where Henry and Ann Robison came from and when he died, but nothing more.

Pedigree Chart #6 – Brubaker/Steinweg

Jacob Brubaker's parents and grandfather have been found, thanks to another cousin. And turns out that the Steinweg surname is really Stoneroad. But nothing more is known of them.

You would think that with the “head start” that Grandma gave me, I would have gotten further back on the pedigree in the last 25 years! But some of those ancestors don't seem to want to be found just yet...

A few years ago I became the custodian of most of Grandma's papers and some of her photographs. I think her story is interesting and I was always amazed that she did double-entry bookkeeping and ran her own restaurant with no more than a sixth grade education and the simple desire to do something.

On August 4, 1976 she wrote: “Well, I did get a little writing done. I do hope some one of you kids enjoy it. Maybe one of the grandchildren or great grandchildren will really get some good out of it.”

I'm not sure she would be pleased to have her story published on the world wide web for any and all to see, but I am sure she would be happy to know that at least one of her grandchildren has “gotten some good out of it” and has taken up where she left off in the search for her family's history.

I hope you enjoy Grandma's story. And, if you are connected to any of the families she mentions, I hope that you will contact me!

The Life of Hazlette Brubaker

• Part 1 ~ The beginning :: A Brief Family History

• Part 2 ~ The beginning :: A Brief Family History, continued

• Part 3 ~ Papa and Mama

• Part 4 ~ Papa, Mama and the Children

• Part 5 ~ Move to Traverse City, Michigan

• Part 6 ~ Life at Traverse City

• Part 7 ~ Return to Goose Lake Farm

• Part 8 ~ The Goose Lake Farm

• Part 9 ~ The Goose Lake Farm, continued

• Part 10 ~ Childhood on the Farm

• Part 11 ~ Farming Life in the Early 20th Century

• Part 12 ~ Growing Up, the Teenage Years

• Part 13 ~ Adult Life

• Part 14 ~ Adult Life, conclusion