The Unforgotten - The First Edith Lenora Sauser

I must warn you, this blog post is tragically sad and is the inspiration for my Unforgotten Series.

Years ago, when researching my step-father's side of the family, I came across a conundrum that took me literally five years to solve.

Let's begin with my step-great grandmother, Edith Lenora SAUSER. 

She was the daughter of Paul Frederick SAUSER and Orpah Annette SCHNOOVER who were married in Johnson County, Iowa, 27 July 1911. According to her birth certificate, she was born 07 October 1911 in Prarieburg, Linn County, Iowa. Paul was 23 and Orpha was 28. Edith was born after just 2.5 months of marriage. 

As I began to work my way up her tree, I came across an article published three years before her birth, mentioning her father, Paul SAUSER. It was a plea for divorce by a Margaret SAUSER who claimed abuse and wanted custody of their ONE YEAR OLD daughter, EDITH LENORA SAUSER. 

The Courier; Page 3, Waterloo, Iowa, Mon 30 March 1908

I immediately began investigating this Margaret but couldn't find a marriage record on Family Search or Ancestry. I also began looking for records for an Edith Lenora SAUSER born 1907 and all the results were either completely wrong or records that I knew were MY Edith Lenora SAUSER born 1911.

Years passed by before I thought to search beyond Ancestry and Family Search. I instead turned to google and searched for archived marriage records in North Dakota. I ended up at the State Historical Society of North Dakota. I did a vague search, only entering SAUSER for the groom's last name and then the year 1905 and got exactly one hit. 

SAUSER/BEATTY 

Notice this tells us Paul's middle initial is the same as MY Paul FREDERICK.

The next information I found were two Waterloo, Iowa, city directory entries for Paul F SAUSER, wf Margaret V, for the year 1906 when he worked for the Iowa Dairy Separator Company and 1908 when he was listed as a boilermaker. 

By 1910 I find Paul F SAUSER living in Boulder, Linn, IA, with his brother John M. SAUSER. His marital status was marked 'D' for divorced. 

I then began looking for Margaret V. BEATTY. I found her in the 1900 census as VIOLA M. BEATTY age 12, birth state, Illinois, the daughter of James W. and Edith BEATTY, living in Whitewater, Dubuque, IA. 




And in the 1905 Iowa State census she's enumerated in Cascade, Dubuque, IA as Margaret V BEATTY, listed with J W BEATTY, now widowed.

I then find two obituaries for Margerett's mother, Edith and it creates more questions than answers. 

The first obituary is from page 5 of Monticello Express 11 Dec 1902. It states, "Mr. and Mrs. BEATTY had no children of their own but their hearts were full of sympathy for the little ones who were without parental care"

And the second obituary from page 5 of the Cascade Pioneer, published in Cascade, Iowa on Friday, December 12th, 1902 goes on to name the foster children as "Margaret BEATTY, Mildred RAFFETY, Myrta DAVIDSON, Elon RAFFETY, and Linnie SHOTWELL" 

I searched and searched for Margaret Viola BEATTY SAUSER in the 1910 census but could find no trace of her or the one-year-old baby, Edith Lenora SAUSER, mentioned in the 1908 article. 

I kept searching and found a marriage record in Jackson County, Missouri on the 21 Dec 1918 for a Margaret V BEATTY, born in 1888, to a Charles PRATT. I decided to look for them in the 1920 census to see if this Margaret was also born in Illinois and sure enough, they're living in Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri and she is indeed born in Illinois. But there is no Edith Lenora born in 1907. It's only Charles and Margaret PRATT.

I continue to research this couple and discovered sadly, two short years later, Margaret died from pulmonary tuberculosis. Her death certificate goes on to list her parents as David E. GLENN and Mary L. CLARK. I begin to second guess myself. Maybe this isn't the right woman after all. But when I find the obituary for Margaret, I get some answers..... and more questions.

Page 4, Cascade Pioneer, Thursday, November 30th, 1922

So now I don't know who Margaret's birth parents were and I don't know why baby Edith Lenora born 1907 wasn't with her in 1920 or mentioned at all in her obituary. Did Paul get custody? Was my Edith actually 4 years older? Did they falsify records? Was her birth certificate accurate? Was Orpha SCHNOOVER not her mother after all?

Or, more likely, maybe the first Edith Lenora SAUSER died. Babies died often back then. I could find no birth record or death record no matter how much I searched. I laid everything aside and decided to come back later. Maybe a few days would give Ancestry's algorithms a chance to catch up to all the new information. 

When I came back, there weren't any accurate hints. They all are records for my grandmother born in 1911. But I hit "search" one last time and a Find-a-grave record comes up for an Edith SAUSER born in 1906 and died 24 March 1930 in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. I feel this is unlikely to be her so far away but the inscription on her stone makes me decide to dig a little further. 

EVEN THOUGH ALONE IN LIFE NOT FORSAKEN IN DEATH

I decide to once again turn to old newspapers, and the pieces began to finally fall into place and her tragic story unfolds. 

Edith had been adopted in 1908 to a Mr. and Mrs. A B HECHT according to an article I found in the Waterloo Daily Courier dated 03 July 1908. 




Two months later a pair articles found running back-to-back in the Semi-Weekly Reporter, give us a little more insight into this story. 




Although, it should be noted that Margaret's troubles with the law were reported in September 1908, two months after giving little Edith up for adoption in July. I also would like to make note that other articles from 1904 in North Dakota can be found where a Violet Beatty and a Kate Brown get in trouble for vagrancy while hanging out with a "snake eater" from the local carnival named "Bosco Kelly".

But Margaret's story is a tale for another time.

It's now 1910 and Edith SAUSER, now going by the name Hazel HECHT, is enumerated with her new parents Albert and Maude, an older brother Kent, as well as a roomer named Irma Mills. They are living on Locust Street, in Waterloo, IA



Because I feel her story is so important, I want to take the time now to point out a few details that we can see from this particular census record. First, notice highlighted in blue, where this is Albert's second marriage and Maude's first. Then highlighted in pink is the columns asking how many children had been born, and how many were still alive. Maude is not Kent's mother. He was born to Albert and his first wife, Minnie SPIKE. Iowa birth records indicate that Albert and Maude did however have a baby girl, named Mary Elizabeth in April 1895 but by May she had sadly passed away. Whether the number 2 indicates Kent, or Hazel, we may not know for sure, but considering Maude is also marked as (inf) for informant, leads me to believe she was counting Hazel. 

In 1912, however, Albert's wife and Hazel's new mother Maude, tragically passes away from a meningitis. Notice that her husband, Albert worked for the same company Paul SAUSER did in the 1906 Waterloo, IA, directory. 



By January of 1920 Albert HECHT had left Iowa and was remarried to a woman named Jessie. The new family is now living in Pomona, Los Angeles, California. This time Hazel isn't listed as his "daughter", but instead as his "adopted daughter".



In June of that same year, Hazel Edith Hecht graduated 6th grade from Washington Elementary

Progress-Bulletin, Sat, 12 June 1920

And the very next year, at the tender age of 14, an announcement is made of the marriage of Hazel Hecht to Alphia O HART, a newspaper man working for the Pomona Press, originally from Enid, Oklahoma. 

The Lahoma Sun, Fri 23 Sept 1921

As it would turn out Alphia was to become a pretty prolific and well-known newspaper photographer. Because of this, we have the following picture he must have taken while he and Hazel were dating.

The Los Angelos Time, 25 Dec 1921

This marriage would be short lived, missing the "seven-year itch" by one year, when the marriage ended in 1927. According to an article in the McCurtain Gazette, a "simple divorce decree was granted in Garfield County." I can only find a one-line statement published in The Enid Daily Times, dated Sept 3, 1927 that simply says, "Hart vs Hart, divorce granted." She is only twenty-one.



Three months later, in the neighboring county of Noble, once again going by the name Edith Sauser, and living in the Rock Island Hotel, the following advertisement is made: 

The Billings News, Fri 02 Dec 1927

After this we come to the culmination of her life in a series of articles that detail her last few years when all the papers begin reporting her self-inflicted death, by poison. 

She ended up in Oklahoma City, working as a waitress at the Topic Cafe located at the 200th block of West California Ave, right below where she lived in the Oliver Hotel

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, City Directory 1930

In January 1929 she had given birth to an "invalid son" at Holmes Home of Redeeming Love in Oklahoma, City. 

Holmes Home of Redeeming Love 

Edith struggled to make ends meet and with a life filled with one unimaginable heartbreak after another, her depression was too much to bear. The stress and struggle led to her own failing health. She was a waitress making $16/week. Because of sympathy and her good nature, her employer, C. C Whiteside, paid her more than the going rate. But life was just too cruel because even when you're making more than the average waitress, without any kind of familial support, she was unable to provide and care for her young son while also working enough to earn the money they desperately needed causing Children's Service Bureau to take him.

I imagine that was the last straw, and she decided to end her life by drinking poison. Her last words: "I'm to blame for everything."

There were no shortages of articles published in the month after her death, detailing her sad life's story. Edith just so happened to have kept a scrapbook with clippings of all her memories, most of which were painful. They told the story of her life. The last entry in her scrapbook was reported as being a "flimsy" that said, "Get the hell out of Oklahoma!" and I guess she chose suicide as her way out. As the news brought to light tragedy after tragedy, everyone became aware of her heartbreak, they shared it and it reverberated throughout the community. Even though she was destitute and could only have afforded to be given a pauper's burial, the funeral home, Marshall & Harper, chose to donate her casket and shroud as well as pay for her burial plot. One woman in the community, tragically remembered Edith had answered an advertisement she placed for a housekeeper and now she regretted she had not offered her the job. One thing was abundantly clear, Edith loved her son and was doing all she could to provide for him. It's my greatest hope that this somehow reaches someone who can help me find him, something that will carry her story another generation further. What was her son's name? What was his fate?

**In coming here to polish up this blog post before turning it into a video I actually made a remarkable discovery. Edith's story caused the public to look more intently into her "invalid" son, and according to an article in The Oklahoma News, :

So, here's to a woman whose history and existence was only to be found in Newspapers for those who would take the time to connect the dots. 

If her son survived and has heirs, I hope they one day find this information. I have no idea what his name was, first or last, or who his father was.

Here's a picture side by side of Grandma Edith and her half-sister by the same name. As well as a picture of their father in later years. 

Until next time
Becky 

I recently heard the following song that made me think of young Edith... 

Link to her Find A Grave Memorial

England Born Pioneer and Linn County Iowa Miller.

The prompt for today comes again from Genealogy Girl on Instagram and the prompt is beard. This time I'm going to the other side of the tree to blog about an ancestor of my maternal sibling.

William Leach HILL is the third great grandfather of my half brother. I recently stumbled across a few new photographs of him that were uploaded by a fellow subscriber to Ancestry. And you guessed it, he has a beard!

I find it so neat that both my step parents had ancestors that immigrated to the United States from England much later in time than any of my own personal ancestors, or even those of my husband. 

According to his death certificate, William Leach HILL, was born 25 April 1835, in England. His parents were Abraham HILL and Mary LEACH. He was a miller by occupation and he died at the age of 90 on 20 March 1926 in Central City, Boulder Township, Linn County, Iowa. The informant was his son-in-law, Verner Conklin, who is the 2nd great grandfather of my half brother.

There's a record index on Family Search for his baptism, that took place 5 Oct 1836 at Bradford Yorkshire England, UK. 

The 1851 England and Wales census finds 14 year old William living at home with his parents, four siblings and a servant on Wakefield Road, in Yorkshire, Yorkshire (West Riding), England

A picture even exists of William and two of his brothers when they were younger! Left to right is Thomas, Rowland, and then William according the FamilySearch user Stewart M. Marshall who shared it there. 




I'm not entirely certain when he immigrated. According to his obituary it was after the death of his father. 

Moday, March 22, 1926, Page 10, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA

I do however have his marriage record to Miss Catharine WILKINSON. There is a lot of information on this record so I'm going to include it and hope that it is large enough for you to see. Their information is in the middle column. They were married 10 Sept 1873 in Brantford, Brant, Ontario, Canada. His age was 38. He is a miller and a bachelor. Again, his parents are Abraham and Mary HILL. His current residence is Coralville, Johnson County, IA. Again, his birthplace is given as Yorkshire, England. The bride is Ms. Catharine WILKINSON, age 37, single, the daughter of Thomas and Nancy WILKINSON. She was born in Skipton, Yorkshire, England. William gives his religion as Baptist, and Catharine is Wesleyan. They were married by a minister named John ALEXANDER. 

The first US census he shows up in is the 1880, Boulder, Linn, IA census. In the course of 7 years he and Catharine have become to parents of three children, Alice age 5, William age 3, and Mary R. age 1. Alice is my half brother's ancestor. 

The same Family Search user also shared pictures of these children. 

William Wilkinson HILL, Mary Rhodes HILL, Alice Hannah, HILL

His occupation is always listed as miller in every record I've found. A little online searching and I came across this :

Linn County Civic Plus

Kansas-Nebraska Act in Iowa; page 23

When William died he left his son and eldest daughter, Alice as administrators of his estate. 




Only two months after the death of William, his bride, Catherine passed away 17 May 1926. 




The two of them, as well as two of their children, William and Alice, are buried in Prairieburg-Boulder Cemetery, in Prairieburg, IA. Their daughter Mary is buried in Jordans Grove. 

I wanted to leave you with one more bearded picture. This one is of William with his two daughters, Mary (L)  and Alice (R). 

And a link to a much more in depth biological sketch of William and his family that can be found on Google Books. 

Until next time,
Becky

Tribute Tuesday - Peter Sauser

This week I'm going to try using daily prompts and keep my posts short and sweet. Today is 'Tribute Tuesday' and I'm going to transcribe the Obituary of my Step-dad's 2nd great grandfather, Peter Sauser. This would have been Grandma Edith's paternal grandfather.

Death Came Suddenly. 

Peter Sauser, Well Known and Prominent Citizen Died at Prairieburg Sunday. 

The sudden death of Peter Sauser last Sunday at Prairieburg, the second event of that nature that day to startle the people at this community, was received with equal surprise as that of the death of the mayor in the earlier hours of the day. Mr Sauser's death occurred about 2 p.m. and was communicated to the city during the afternoon. During the past several years, since his son John M Sauser, in whose home he died has been engaged in business in Prairieburg, Mr. Sauser has spent quite a bit of his time there. The latter part of this last week he was feeling poorly and a physician was called Sunday morning, he felt better and was apparently recovering from the immediate effects of the trouble. However, about 2 o'clock he felt suddenly worse and called his son John, who instantly hurried away for the doctor who resides across the street. By the time he returned with the physician Mr. Sauser was beyond recovery. The cause of death was acute dilation of the stomach. Mr. Sauser seldom complained, and his general appearance suggested robust health. His last visit home was for several days two or three weeks ago on his return from a western trip.

Peter Sauser was born on the old Bright farm in Spring Valley, Cascade Township, March 30, 1852. Later when his father, the late M. L. Sauser, removed to Whitewater Township on to the place now known as the McAllister farm, he worked on the farm until 1874, in which year he came to Cascade and engaged in the liquor business, which line he followed at intervals for a number of years.

He was married to Miss Mary Turnis, daughter of the late Michael Turnis, of Cascade Township, February 22, 1881, and they resided for one year on a farm on Bowen Prairie. From 1882 until 1884 her engaged in the liquor business. From the fall of 1885 to 1888 he was in the lumber business, having succeeded Dorchester and Co. He sold out to A. B. Brown and since then had not been actively engaged in business.

Mr. Sauser was unostentatious in his demeanor and never courted notoriety in any form. He was a good citizen and his death is a loss to the community.

He is survived by his widow and four children:  John M Sauser of Prairieburg; Paul Sauser, of Moline Illinois; Mrs Charles Reddin and Miss Carrie, of Cascade; and by his brothers, Frank Sauser, of Cascade; and Michael Sauser, of Fillmore; and sister, Mrs Paul Becker, of Cascade.

The remains were brought to Cascade Monday evening, and the funeral services were held at St. Martin's church Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock, Reverend L. Roche officiating. The pallbearers were John C Delvin, T.H. McQuillen, H.L. Dehner, John Gilmore, John Seery, and Matt Bisenius.

The family desires to thank the many friends who so kindly assisted them in their bereavement.
The above was taken from Page 5 of  the Cascade Pioneer, published in Cascade, Iowa on Thursday, October 7th, 1909. It can be found online in the digital archives of the Jones County Genealogical Society.

Until next time,
Becky

52 Ancestors - Favorite Name

I have really enjoyed researching my Step-parents' lines. Especially when they lead to individuals who lived in the Northern part of the United States. It has broadened my research skills and given me an opportunity to use and view records I haven't had the chance to use or see in my own lines. Nearly all of my own family (that I can trace) migrated here, ending up in the Northern New England States, then migrated South into the Carolinas and Virginia then kept going South down into TN and KY and on Westward.

This week I'll be focusing again on my brother, Tyler's line. The prompt is favorite name. There is one line I am choosing to focus on because there are several unusual, to me, names in this line. Not the every day, William, Michael, John, James, Joseph that are common in my tree. I don't know why I've taken the word favorite and turned it into unusual other than maybe, I enjoy the new-ness of these names. And the first one... it just seems like an 'upper crust' Downton Abbey kind of name.

Meet our great grandfather, Chancey H Conklin. That cute little girl? That's me! And that chubby faced little baby, that's Tyler. He is being held by our great grandmother, Chancey's wife, Edith.

Honestly, I don't remember too much about either of these individuals. I vaguely remember a trailer house in Lincoln that they lived in and then later an apartment in Prairie Grove. I remember several day visits, never any spending the night, that I recall. Grandpa died when I was not quite nine and I think Grandma moved away after that. She died in 2008.

I love his name. Because I only knew him as Grandpa Conklin, I had to ask how he pronounced his first name. Was it Chancey, pronounced Chan-see or was it Chauncey, pronoucned Chawn-see? He spelled it Chancey and Dad and Grandma both said he pronounced it the first way. The name Chancey an English varient of the French name Chauncey and means Chancellor; secretary; fortune; a gamble


Chancey was born in 1911 in Boulder Township, Linn, Iowa to Verner Conklin and Alice Hannah Hill. His full given name according to the birth record is Chauncy Hill Conklin. Notice the spelling of the first name, this is what gave me confusion as to the pronunciation. This is the only place I have seen it spelled with the 'au' and its from an index, not the actual record, so we can take it with a grain of salt.  I really love it when the mother's maiden name is incorporated into her children's names. There were other children born to this union, but sadly, Chancey was the only one that survived infancy.

While researching Chancey, I came across a yearbook photo of him from 1932. He was attending Coe College and according to his daughter, my grandmother, he played football there. Also, according to a newspaper article I found he was a member of the fraternity, Alpha Kappa Pi.




In 1939, at the age of 28, he married Edith Lenora Sauser.

Now on to the next name, Verner. Isn't that an unusual name? Or is just me? Verner is Scandinavian or German and means covered warrior or friend protector. When doing a search using only his first name, I find it isn't that unusual a name, but it is to me so I'm gonna roll with it. I know he had a grandson that was given this name as his middle name. I love it when names are handed down from generation to generation.

Verner C Conklin was born 25 May 1875 in Linn County Iowa. His parents were Chancey R Conklin and Anna Marie Bayley. I have so many questions about Verner. But for now I will write what I know. On 30 November 1899 in Prairieburg Township he married Alice Hannah Hill ( I can't wait to write more about Alice's lineage). In the information given in the marriage record he lists his occupation as carpenter. This is a skill set that lasted generations with this family. They were always somehow connected to this profession. His father was also a carpenter and he had at least two uncles that were heavy in the lumber industry. One of which owned and managed a lumber yard in Kansas.

As far as I can tell, Verner was the only son born to Chancey and Ann Marie. He was the oldest, followed by three girls, Iva Viola, Annie, and Marian Elinor.

By 1910 Verner must have hung up the hammer and nails and opted for a shovel and plow because his occupation is listed as farmer and remains so throughout the remaining census records, both State and Federal. In 1915, still giving his occupation as a farmer, he listed his total earnings for the year 1914 as being $600.

As I stated before Verner and his wife Alice only had one child that lived past infancy and they both die in 1947. I can't find a specific date for either, only the year. I don't know what was the COD. In an effort to find more information I ended up finding two more free online sources/newspaper databases Here and Here. But I still couldn't find an exact death date or cause for either Verner or his wife, Alice. I've also never discovered what his middle initial 'C' stood for. Possibly Chancey, but that's just a guess.

I did find these few articles:

One stating that Verner was the District Secretary

July 1924

This one where Chancey is selling his parents' estate and announces his move to California:

Feb 1948

Now on to Verner's father, Chancey R Conklin. He was born in 1844 in Licking, OH to other GREAT names Silas and Sabra Parr Conklin. This family didn't stay in OH long after Chancey's birth, as his younger brother Henry was born in Iowa in 1847 and the family is enumerated in 1850 living in Clay Township, Jones, Iowa.

Chancey had seven siblings: Louisa, Henry, Sylvester, Horace, Allen James, Edward Thomas, and Wm Dell.

In 1850 & 1860 Chancey can be found in the home of his father. In 1870 he strikes out on his own and is found living in Delaware Township, Otoe County, Nebraska farming with his brother Sylvester. This venture in Nebraska did not last long for Chancey.

Other than the newness of names, another thing I'm discovering while researching this line is how old many of them are before they're married. In my line, everyone is practically still babies; marrying in their teens. Chancey, at the age of 29, married thirty-one year old, Ann Marie Bayley, 17 Sept 1873 in Linn, County, Iowa.

Ann Marie Bayley was the daughter of James P Bayley and Tryphena Catlin Bayley.  Have you ever in the history of ever seen or heard the name Tryphena? If you have it may have been from the Bible, specifically Romans 16:12. I have never heard of it anywhere else. The name means 'dainty', 'delicate' or 'luxurious'. Again, like Verner, after doing a search of her first name only, I discovered there to be several women named Tryphena. But still, like Chancey it has that 'upper-crust' feel, doesn't it? Or is it really just me?

As I said before, this is a line of builders. In 1880, Chauncey is listed as a Carpenter; his brother Henry, a Brick Mason; his brother Sylvester, in 1900, lists his occupation as Mason Worker; Horace a Plasterer; and Edward owned and managed several Lumber Yards. Here is one article from 1906, that I found interesting:

The Conklins weren't just laborers though. They were also very involved politically in their community. Chancey was the Justice of the Peace for several years and his brother Horace was the first Mayor of Prairieburg. In the below article (left side) you will also find mention of Chancey's  daughter-in-law, Alice.

Page 7 of Cedar Rapids Gazette; 20 July 1937

Page 5 of Cedar Rapids Gazette; 23 Jan 1894

In 1902 Chancy R Conklin dies from a lingering illness. His wife lived 15 years without him, passing away in 1917.

As mentioned earlier, Chancey's father was Silas Conklin. Silas is a Hebrew name and derives from the name Saul. It means "the youngest". Was Silas the youngest sibling? I'm not sure. I don't know for certain who his parents were. I suspect his father to be the Matthew that is listed on the same page in the 1840 Hartford, Licking, OH census who is between the age of 70-79. I haven't taken the time to research this lead yet. One other Conklin living in Hartford was John Conklin who was listed right above Silas. His age was listed as being 30-39 so he was definitely older than Silas who was aged 20-29. John remains in Hartford and in the 1850 census has a David Conklin, age 90, living with him.

In 1841 Silas married Sabra Parr. Sabra is also Hebrew in origin and means "rest".

Sabra died in 1875 and Silas remarries a woman by the name of Mary who was 20 years younger. In the 1880 census there is also a young two year old girl by the name of Lenora that is referred to as 'adopted'.

Silas dies in March the following year.

It is interesting to note in his Estate papers the items that are sold at auction: Shingle tins, nails, casings, brads, bolts & screws, locks, latches, drawer locks, cuboard latches, window stops... all items he would've used in his trade as a carpenter. 

I love to see this trade in this particular line because my Step-Dad is very skilled when it comes to building things. He isn't a carpenter by profession, but he has designed two houses and did a lot of the building himself and has done a lot of carpenter work on their retirement cabin and bunkhouse. It's in his blood and he does wonderful work.

I hope you're enjoying these.

Until next time,
Becky