Selected Families and Individuals

Notes

John Carpenter PATRIQUIN

from Wikipedia - The first European settlers in the Tatamagouche area were the French Acadians , who settled the area in the early-1700s, and Tatamagouche became a transshipment point for goods bound for Fortress Louisbourg . In 1755 the British expelled the Acadians from Nova Scotia and the village was destroyed. All that remains from that period are Acadian dykes and some French place names.
Ten years later, on August 25, 1765, the land that became Tatamagouche was given to British military mapmaker Colonel Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres by the British Crown. DesBarres was awarded 20,000 acres (81 km²) of land in and around Tatamagouche on the condition that he settle it with 100 Protestants within 10 years. Low land prices in other colonies made attracting tenants difficult, but an offer of six years free rent to dissatisfied residents of Lunenburg was a success. Protestant repopulation also grew considerably before the end of the century with a flood of Scottish immigrants following the Highland Clearances

Forrest Elbert ZIMMERMAN

Forrest Elbert Zimmerman

1909 Tacoma Washington - 1989 New Glarus Wisconsin

February 18, 2004

Dear Children,

Today I am writing to you about someone I knew very well...my Daddy!

Forrest Elbert Zimmerman was born on 28 December 1909 in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington.  He was the one and only child of George Edward Zimmerman and his wife, Wilhemina Julia Wintermantel, called Minnie. George and Minnie were both from immigrant German families, so Forrest grew up speaking both German and English.  His mother had taught school before her marriage and was an accomplished pianist.  She tried to interest Forrest in the piano, but it didn't take. George was a very capable and clever young man who, over the years, supported his family in numerous different ways, including farmer, ship builder, and hardware store merchant. He shared with Forrest an interest in woodworking and in figuring out what makes things go.

I have a small Baby Book that his mother kept. In it is a lock of his surprisingly blonde hair, and a list of baby gifts.  On the list is this entry, "Ring from Mrs. J. Ward."  I have that ring.  I also have a number of photographs of my dad as a small child. In them he has long curly hair and is wearing dresses! I was quite alarmed when I first saw these photos.  Since then, however, I have learned it was the style at that time to dress little boys like that until they were about three years old.

Forrest's family moved around quite a bit when he was small. I have a Valentine's Day postcard addressed to Forrest in Thornton, Washington dated 1914.  Thornton is a small town near the Washington/Idaho border and about 40 miles south of Spokane. I have no idea what the family was doing there. The next item I have is Dad's third grade report card from Astoria, Oregon. Astoria is right on the Columbia River very near its mouth where it meets the Pacific Ocean. According to his report card he was "Excellent" in reading and spelling and behavior and "Good" in everything else. We know a little bit more about the time in Astoria because of a letter written by Forrest to his granddaughter Dawne in 1974.

"Dear Dawne,
Grandma is writing to you about when she was a little girl on a farm. I grew up in small towns so my life was different.

When I was nine years old your great grandmother and great grandfather and I lived in Astoria Oregon.  This was during World War I and they were building wooden ships  at Astoria. My father worked at the shipyard. When we first went to Astoria we couldn't find any house to rent or buy so my father bought a lot and built a house on it. He built a real simple house, and got a carpenter friend to help him.  I remember when we first moved into the house there were no inside partitions.

The year I was eight we had an influenza epidemic that killed lots and lots of people. I remember every week when we went to school we would see another empty desk.  Most of the time the kids got well and came back but not always.  Several of my classmates died that winter.

My how it rained there and how the wind blew! I remember one time I started out for school wearing a raincoat, a rain hat, and rubbers. I got just a short distance from the house when the wind caught my hat and blew it off. Every time I tried to pick it up the wind caught it again just as I was about to pick it up.

Astoria is very hilly and our house was on the side of a hill, with the back of the house on dirt and the front of the house on stilts.  We kept our wood under the front of the house.  We had a wood burning stove that your great grandmother cooked on and that we used to heat the house.

The country around Astoria is a lot like that in the rain forest on the Olympic Peninsula that we visited, lots of trees, brush, moss, and grass. During the heavy rains the water would soak into the ground at the top of the hill and sometimes we would find the nicest spring bubbling out of the ground at the bottom of the hill. Other places you would see the water just flowing out of the side of the hill. After the rain stopped the spring would dry up and the water would stop flowing out of the side of the hill.

I remember when I was there I went with a friend of mine (he was five years old) and his father for a walk through the woods. We saw half a wooden sled and my friend asked his father what it was. Of course I was a big boy and I knew. It snows there about once every twenty years.

My friend and I explored all the woods around and picked flowers in the spring.  We found trilliums, wild Iris, johnny jump-ups (yellow violets to you), mayflowers, and many more that I cannot remember.

One of our neighbors was a commercial fisherman and in the middle of the afternoon he would bring some of his catch around to sell. My mother would buy salmon, or rock cod, or ling cod, or some other fish and cook them for dinner. I can still remember how good they were.

This is about all I can remember now. Grandma and I hope you get a Girl Scout badge for this.
Love, Grandpa"

The influenza epidemic Forrest wrote about was the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919.  It killed more people than World War I, somewhere between 20 and 40 million people all over the world.  It was the most devastating epidemic in world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351.
By 1922 Forrest and his family were living in Portland, Oregon. I have his 6th and 7th grade report cards from Glencoe School. For High School, he attended an all boys school called Benson Polytechnic School.  he graduated from there in 1928.  Then he went on to college at Reed College in Portland where he was one of seven students to graduate with a degree in Physics in 1932.

When Forrest first graduated from college it was the height of the Depression. Jobs were very hard to find. So he took a job working on the railroad and felt lucky to get it.  If you had known Grandpa it would make you laugh to think of him working on the railroad. He was about the most non-athletic man I've ever known. He was very tall and looked strong but he wasn't cut out to be a physical laborer. But that was all he could find so that's what he did.

But in September of 1935 he went to work at the Bonneville Dam which was still under construction. The dam was one of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal projects. The New Deal attempted to provide recovery and relief from the Great Depression through many various government programs.  The Bonneville Dam was one of the New Deal's public works programs. It is one of the major dams on the Columbia River where it passes through the Cascade Mountains between Oregon and Washington. It was built between 1933 and 1943 by the U.S. Corps of Engineers.  It is used for navigation, flood control, and power production. It has locks that enable ships to pass the dam and fish ladders that allow salmon to spawn upriver. Forrest considered himself very lucky to get the job and worked his way up from the position of clerk to that of generator operator. It also enabled him to marry his sweetheart.

Thelma DeMouth was one of several young women working in the home of Forrest's physics professor, Marcus O'Day. They were married 16 Nov 1935  in the Reed College Chapel. Their first home was a very tiny one in the forest on the side of a mountain overlooking the Columbia River Gorge.  They called it "The Shack".  I have a photo of it around here somewhere. Here Thelma pursued her artistic career while Forrest worked at the dam.

This is what their friend, Dianne Joseph, wrote about their marriage on the occasion of Forrest's death.

"Yes, your father did adore your mother and learned to love music, opera, art, ballet and all because of his deep love for her. Certainly with the academic mind and the brains he had, it would be very difficult for anyone to even bend enough to try to enjoy the fantasies and such of a woman, but not Forrie.  He was kind and gentle and couldn't hurt anyone, nor could he see any bad in anyone. Your mother, too, was the same. When I first met them and grew to know them, they always maintained a certain amount of innocence that was refreshing, especially at that particular time of turmoil and war that we lived in.  What a legacy he has left you."

That Forrest and Thelma were always very much in love was obvious even to me as a small child.  She was his Dido.  He was her Forrie. Here is how I wrote about them for Dad's Eulogy:

"But the one central fact that I remember from those years is how he adored my mother.  Even the foolish things she would do, he would somehow transform into something cute, clever, or artistic. Because he loved her, he learned to enjoy the things she enjoyed like art and ballet. And all through my teenage years he took me to art shows and every summer to the ballet because he wanted me to share this part of my mother that he had known.."

On 29 October 1939 their first child  Jon Christian was born and they left the shack and moved down to the grounds of the dam. World War II had already begun.  It would be two years before the United States entered the war. But the time passed quickly for the little family and early in 1942 Forrest enlisted in the US Navy and went off to Officers Training School in New port, Rhode Island, the same place as your mommy went about fifty years later.

Then he was sent to Norfolk, Virginia where he trained to be a gyro compass officer. Their second child, Dianne Irene, was born there on 23 Oct 1943.  Soon after Forrest was sent to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and Thelma and the two children went back to Portland to wait out the war with Grandma and Grandpa Zimmerman.  The war finally ended and Forrest came out of the Navy with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

Soon after that the family moved clear across the country to Boston. One reason for this move was that a number of friends from the Reed College days all moved there. They were Marcus O'Day and his family, Fred and Peg Nicodemus whom we called Peggy and Nick, Herb French, the Moores - they all went to Boston, so we went too. There Forrest worked for the Air Force Cambridge Research Center as an electrical engineer designing and testing transformers, chokes, and generators.  We first lived in Jamaica Plains, a Boston neighborhood. We soon moved to a large housing project in Ayre, Massachusetts that was full of returning servicemen and their families. In the fall of 1949 we moved to our first house  in Lexington, Massachusetts  Here's how I explained my dad during that period to an old friend.

I  lived on School Street. Number 44. We were probably the curse of the neighborhood. I love my father dearly and always have. I have to say that before I tell you how totally inept he was at managing the nuts and bolts stuff of everyday life. Perhaps he was more of an intellectual. Anyway, when we moved there in the fall of 1949 the house had a white front and dark green on the sides and back. My mother thought it should all be white. Someone told my dad that he couldn't paint white over dark green so he went out and bought a very tall ladder and a bucket of silver paint. He proceeded to paint one green side of the house silver - a base coat supposedly. I don't know if the effort overwhelmed him or exactly what the problem was but from then on we had a three color house - white, dark green, and silver. It must have been quite a sight. The neighbor behind us kept goats. One time they asked us to watch their goats while they went out of town. My dad brought them down to graze on the lawn so he wouldn't have to mow. Actually, that sounds to me very sensible. No pollution - not that we ever owned a gasoline lawn mower.
My brother says Daddy just talked about having the goats mow the lawn.  It didn't actually happen. But more was going on than not wanting to paint or mow. It was becoming increasingly clear that Thelma's health was going downhill. She suffered from rheumatic heart disease and her doctor would put her on a regimen of bed rest for weeks at a time. In the spring of 1952 Forrest and Thelma came in contact with a doctor who thought he could correct the leaky valve with surgery but she would have to spend time in the hospital in Boston to build her strength prior to the surgery. Before the operation could be performed she suffered a major stroke. If only she could have had the surgery! It would have been one of the first open heart operations.  Instead she died of a second stroke on Jon's 13th birthday, 29 October 1952.  It practically killed Forrest. This is how I described it in the Eulogy.
"When our mother died he grieved terribly. Sometimes at night I would hear him pacing the floor outside my door and I'd get up and play cards or chess with him. Those were very difficult times for him, coping with two active growing kids and trying to maintain a household while overwhelmed with grief. But he always came home to us at night. And he always managed to get a meal on the table. Potatoes were his specialty. He also tried to get us to church every week. These things were made more difficult by the fact that our old Studebaker konked out that winter. We took the bus a lot. And I can remember more than once carrying sacks of groceries a mile home from the store. Finally he did the only thing he could do. He left his friends and memories and came to Illinois so that Aunt Musa, my mother's sister, could help raise us."

He went to work for Gramer-Halldorson Transformer Corp, Chicago, designing and testing transformers. It was a long commute everyday on the train. It was ten months before we found a place where we could all live together, a flat in Highwood, IL. Until then Dianne lived at the YWCA in Highland Park with Aunt Musa and Forrest and Jon lived in a tiny upstairs apartment nearby and every night Aunt Musa and Dianne would walk the mile up St John's Avenue to cook and eat supper at the apartment.  The next spring Daddy, Jon, Aunt Musa and I moved into a large apartment together in Highwood, Illinois. That was an interesting year. Dad was still feeling very forlorn and uprooted, Jon had turned into an awkward teenager, Aunt Musa was trying to maintain the household, put up with us all and keep up her job as a YWCA executive, and was kind of just there.

Sometime during that second year without our Mommy Forrest met, and courted Kathryn Kleasner. They married on 16 July 1955.  After that our lives became much more peaceful and stable. These were probably the most contented years of my dad's life as under her sunny disposition and good organizing skills we all flourished.

When Forrest and Kathryn married we moved to a little house in Waukegan, Illinois.  Also about that time Dad began working for Kleinschmidt Laboratories responsible for the selection of electrical components used in manufactured equipment for Signal Corps.  In August 1957 he changed jobs again and began employment with the Ninth Naval District, Utilities Division, Great Lakes, Illinois as an electrical engineer, where he spent the rest of his working life. Two high points of his years at Great Lakes were being named Federal Employee of the year for the Chicago area and earning his professional engineer certification, both in 1965.

In 1969 he retired and he and Kathryn moved to the Seattle area. Forrest loved the Pacific Northwest where he had been raised and he had always wanted to retire there.  He had drawn up plans for a retirement home he wanted to have built and he looked forward to trips and travel.  But Kathryn's health was not good.  Even though she spent four months in University of Washington Hospital, the doctors were unable to definitively diagnose her multiple sclerosis which was progressing rapidly.  So instead of the retirement house, they found a beautiful apartment right on the beach in Edmonds, Washington.  And instead of travel, Forrest enjoyed watching the boats on Puget Sound and visiting with all the older gentlemen he would meet while walking about town.  

In 1975 they moved to Madison, Wisconsin because of Kathryn's health issues, coming to Oakwood Retirement Village in 1979. After the move to Oakwood it became more and more clear that Dad's mind was going. He was diagnosed as having Parkinson's Disease with dementia. By the fall of 1985 Kathryn, who had become quite crippled and was wheelchair bound, was no longer able to care for him and he had to be moved to a nursing home. He died on March 8, 1989 at the New Glarus Home in New Glarus, Wisconsin.

I close this story with a section from the eulogy I gave at his Memorial service.

"My dad had kind of a fierce look about him that might have gone well with a ancient warrior or king. His bald head with the black fringe of hair, his dark eyes that looked out from deep wells, his heavy dark eyebrows, and his tall stature would have been impessive on a Roman soldier or a Spanish conqueror. I was a teenager before I began to appreciate the fact that his visage did not in any way match his demeanor. Yes he had a temper, but his bark was worse than his bite. And underneath it all he was a real pussy cat of a man that needed someone to take care of him. He was gentle and tender and affectionate. Sharon at the nursing home summed it up when she said, 'So often when people get older and develop things like Alzheimer's, their true nature comes out and they can get very cranky and irritable. But your dad was always pleasant to everybody. He was a true gentleman in the truest sense of the word.'

I'd like to share three things about my dad's character that I especially admire. First of all, he was basically I think, a man of simple pleasures and simple dreams. And in this world of people who seem to need more and more of everything to be happy, I find that very refreshing. He loved to read. He read voraciously science and history and literature and for many, many years he remembered everything he read. He had a wonderful mind. My dad was a good humored fellow who loved to razz and hear and tell a good story. We used to joke that Aunt Musa could remember the details of meals she had eaten 50 years ago. well, Dad could remember the punch lines of funny incidents that had happened 50 years earlier. And especially as he grew older he enjoyed roaming around town and "shooting the breeze" with various older gentlemen of the same inclination. My dad enjoyed good food, gadgets, playing solitaire, and going for drives in the country. And he loved his country very much. He was also a man of simple dreams. He had a dream retirement home that was drawn but never built. He also dreamed of retiring in the Pacific northwest which he did for six years and heartily enjoyed it and gave us wonderful vacations there. And he dreamed of traveling. Though I know he didn't get to all the places he wanted to, he did get to Churchill, Canada and to Alaska. In our time these are simple dreams and pleasures.

The second thing I admire about my dad is that he had great respect for the women in his life. He was non-chauvinistic and that's why it took me so long to understand the women's lib movement. He always encouraged me academically and never led me to believe there was anything I couldn't do just because I was female. He always took time to help me with my homework in math and English. I wish I could say that because of him I went on to become a great scholar. It wasn't for lack of his encouragement that I didn't. I know he must have been terribly disappointed when I dropped out of school to get married, but he accepted it and was just as proud of me as a wife and a mother as he had been of me as a scholar.

The third thing that I admire is he was a man of steadfast affection who never wavered in his loyalty. He had two wives. He loved each of them very much. Each of them ended up in a wheelchair and required a great deal of care from him. And yet I don't believe he ever complained. He got Irritable at times, but it was a fleeting irritation. In each case he considered himself very lucky to have such a wonderful wife. And he did his very best as long as he could. I know there's a lesson here for me.

So this was my dad - a fine man that we loved very much. A man of steadfast affection - a true gentleman."

Oh, one more thing I admire --- his hair never did turn gray!

Love,

Granny

Jason Andrew PAMPLIN

This living person agreed to be listed.

Dawne Irene STEVENS

This living person agreed to be listed.

Sarah Elizabeth PAMPLIN

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Hannah Irene PAMPLIN

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Timothy Paul PAMPLIN

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Here’s Timmy’s 1st story that he wrote for Granny,
In the fall of 1949, Granny lived in Lexington, Massachusetts. She liked to walk in the woods with her big brother, Jon. There weren’t a lot of bushes, so it was easy to walk under the trees. She remembers some of the things she saw. Once, they found a big rock. They agreed that it was the top of a mostly-buried mountain. She saw some paths that she thought were made by Indians. She saw a bunch of animals, too, like bunny rabbits. She found blueberries, and the old foundation of a house. It had to be really fun – I know because I’m her grandson and I go on walks with her sometimes.

Rebecca Anne PAMPLIN

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Howard HENSLEE

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occupation: fence builder

Rae Anna HOLLIDAY

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Forrest Elbert ZIMMERMAN

Forrest Elbert Zimmerman

1909 Tacoma Washington - 1989 New Glarus Wisconsin

February 18, 2004

Dear Children,

Today I am writing to you about someone I knew very well...my Daddy!

Forrest Elbert Zimmerman was born on 28 December 1909 in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington.  He was the one and only child of George Edward Zimmerman and his wife, Wilhemina Julia Wintermantel, called Minnie. George and Minnie were both from immigrant German families, so Forrest grew up speaking both German and English.  His mother had taught school before her marriage and was an accomplished pianist.  She tried to interest Forrest in the piano, but it didn't take. George was a very capable and clever young man who, over the years, supported his family in numerous different ways, including farmer, ship builder, and hardware store merchant. He shared with Forrest an interest in woodworking and in figuring out what makes things go.

I have a small Baby Book that his mother kept. In it is a lock of his surprisingly blonde hair, and a list of baby gifts.  On the list is this entry, "Ring from Mrs. J. Ward."  I have that ring.  I also have a number of photographs of my dad as a small child. In them he has long curly hair and is wearing dresses! I was quite alarmed when I first saw these photos.  Since then, however, I have learned it was the style at that time to dress little boys like that until they were about three years old.

Forrest's family moved around quite a bit when he was small. I have a Valentine's Day postcard addressed to Forrest in Thornton, Washington dated 1914.  Thornton is a small town near the Washington/Idaho border and about 40 miles south of Spokane. I have no idea what the family was doing there. The next item I have is Dad's third grade report card from Astoria, Oregon. Astoria is right on the Columbia River very near its mouth where it meets the Pacific Ocean. According to his report card he was "Excellent" in reading and spelling and behavior and "Good" in everything else. We know a little bit more about the time in Astoria because of a letter written by Forrest to his granddaughter Dawne in 1974.

"Dear Dawne,
Grandma is writing to you about when she was a little girl on a farm. I grew up in small towns so my life was different.

When I was nine years old your great grandmother and great grandfather and I lived in Astoria Oregon.  This was during World War I and they were building wooden ships  at Astoria. My father worked at the shipyard. When we first went to Astoria we couldn't find any house to rent or buy so my father bought a lot and built a house on it. He built a real simple house, and got a carpenter friend to help him.  I remember when we first moved into the house there were no inside partitions.

The year I was eight we had an influenza epidemic that killed lots and lots of people. I remember every week when we went to school we would see another empty desk.  Most of the time the kids got well and came back but not always.  Several of my classmates died that winter.

My how it rained there and how the wind blew! I remember one time I started out for school wearing a raincoat, a rain hat, and rubbers. I got just a short distance from the house when the wind caught my hat and blew it off. Every time I tried to pick it up the wind caught it again just as I was about to pick it up.

Astoria is very hilly and our house was on the side of a hill, with the back of the house on dirt and the front of the house on stilts.  We kept our wood under the front of the house.  We had a wood burning stove that your great grandmother cooked on and that we used to heat the house.

The country around Astoria is a lot like that in the rain forest on the Olympic Peninsula that we visited, lots of trees, brush, moss, and grass. During the heavy rains the water would soak into the ground at the top of the hill and sometimes we would find the nicest spring bubbling out of the ground at the bottom of the hill. Other places you would see the water just flowing out of the side of the hill. After the rain stopped the spring would dry up and the water would stop flowing out of the side of the hill.

I remember when I was there I went with a friend of mine (he was five years old) and his father for a walk through the woods. We saw half a wooden sled and my friend asked his father what it was. Of course I was a big boy and I knew. It snows there about once every twenty years.

My friend and I explored all the woods around and picked flowers in the spring.  We found trilliums, wild Iris, johnny jump-ups (yellow violets to you), mayflowers, and many more that I cannot remember.

One of our neighbors was a commercial fisherman and in the middle of the afternoon he would bring some of his catch around to sell. My mother would buy salmon, or rock cod, or ling cod, or some other fish and cook them for dinner. I can still remember how good they were.

This is about all I can remember now. Grandma and I hope you get a Girl Scout badge for this.
Love, Grandpa"

The influenza epidemic Forrest wrote about was the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919.  It killed more people than World War I, somewhere between 20 and 40 million people all over the world.  It was the most devastating epidemic in world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351.
By 1922 Forrest and his family were living in Portland, Oregon. I have his 6th and 7th grade report cards from Glencoe School. For High School, he attended an all boys school called Benson Polytechnic School.  he graduated from there in 1928.  Then he went on to college at Reed College in Portland where he was one of seven students to graduate with a degree in Physics in 1932.

When Forrest first graduated from college it was the height of the Depression. Jobs were very hard to find. So he took a job working on the railroad and felt lucky to get it.  If you had known Grandpa it would make you laugh to think of him working on the railroad. He was about the most non-athletic man I've ever known. He was very tall and looked strong but he wasn't cut out to be a physical laborer. But that was all he could find so that's what he did.

But in September of 1935 he went to work at the Bonneville Dam which was still under construction. The dam was one of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal projects. The New Deal attempted to provide recovery and relief from the Great Depression through many various government programs.  The Bonneville Dam was one of the New Deal's public works programs. It is one of the major dams on the Columbia River where it passes through the Cascade Mountains between Oregon and Washington. It was built between 1933 and 1943 by the U.S. Corps of Engineers.  It is used for navigation, flood control, and power production. It has locks that enable ships to pass the dam and fish ladders that allow salmon to spawn upriver. Forrest considered himself very lucky to get the job and worked his way up from the position of clerk to that of generator operator. It also enabled him to marry his sweetheart.

Thelma DeMouth was one of several young women working in the home of Forrest's physics professor, Marcus O'Day. They were married 16 Nov 1935  in the Reed College Chapel. Their first home was a very tiny one in the forest on the side of a mountain overlooking the Columbia River Gorge.  They called it "The Shack".  I have a photo of it around here somewhere. Here Thelma pursued her artistic career while Forrest worked at the dam.

This is what their friend, Dianne Joseph, wrote about their marriage on the occasion of Forrest's death.

"Yes, your father did adore your mother and learned to love music, opera, art, ballet and all because of his deep love for her. Certainly with the academic mind and the brains he had, it would be very difficult for anyone to even bend enough to try to enjoy the fantasies and such of a woman, but not Forrie.  He was kind and gentle and couldn't hurt anyone, nor could he see any bad in anyone. Your mother, too, was the same. When I first met them and grew to know them, they always maintained a certain amount of innocence that was refreshing, especially at that particular time of turmoil and war that we lived in.  What a legacy he has left you."

That Forrest and Thelma were always very much in love was obvious even to me as a small child.  She was his Dido.  He was her Forrie. Here is how I wrote about them for Dad's Eulogy:

"But the one central fact that I remember from those years is how he adored my mother.  Even the foolish things she would do, he would somehow transform into something cute, clever, or artistic. Because he loved her, he learned to enjoy the things she enjoyed like art and ballet. And all through my teenage years he took me to art shows and every summer to the ballet because he wanted me to share this part of my mother that he had known.."

On 29 October 1939 their first child  Jon Christian was born and they left the shack and moved down to the grounds of the dam. World War II had already begun.  It would be two years before the United States entered the war. But the time passed quickly for the little family and early in 1942 Forrest enlisted in the US Navy and went off to Officers Training School in New port, Rhode Island, the same place as your mommy went about fifty years later.

Then he was sent to Norfolk, Virginia where he trained to be a gyro compass officer. Their second child, Dianne Irene, was born there on 23 Oct 1943.  Soon after Forrest was sent to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and Thelma and the two children went back to Portland to wait out the war with Grandma and Grandpa Zimmerman.  The war finally ended and Forrest came out of the Navy with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

Soon after that the family moved clear across the country to Boston. One reason for this move was that a number of friends from the Reed College days all moved there. They were Marcus O'Day and his family, Fred and Peg Nicodemus whom we called Peggy and Nick, Herb French, the Moores - they all went to Boston, so we went too. There Forrest worked for the Air Force Cambridge Research Center as an electrical engineer designing and testing transformers, chokes, and generators.  We first lived in Jamaica Plains, a Boston neighborhood. We soon moved to a large housing project in Ayre, Massachusetts that was full of returning servicemen and their families. In the fall of 1949 we moved to our first house  in Lexington, Massachusetts  Here's how I explained my dad during that period to an old friend.

I  lived on School Street. Number 44. We were probably the curse of the neighborhood. I love my father dearly and always have. I have to say that before I tell you how totally inept he was at managing the nuts and bolts stuff of everyday life. Perhaps he was more of an intellectual. Anyway, when we moved there in the fall of 1949 the house had a white front and dark green on the sides and back. My mother thought it should all be white. Someone told my dad that he couldn't paint white over dark green so he went out and bought a very tall ladder and a bucket of silver paint. He proceeded to paint one green side of the house silver - a base coat supposedly. I don't know if the effort overwhelmed him or exactly what the problem was but from then on we had a three color house - white, dark green, and silver. It must have been quite a sight. The neighbor behind us kept goats. One time they asked us to watch their goats while they went out of town. My dad brought them down to graze on the lawn so he wouldn't have to mow. Actually, that sounds to me very sensible. No pollution - not that we ever owned a gasoline lawn mower.
My brother says Daddy just talked about having the goats mow the lawn.  It didn't actually happen. But more was going on than not wanting to paint or mow. It was becoming increasingly clear that Thelma's health was going downhill. She suffered from rheumatic heart disease and her doctor would put her on a regimen of bed rest for weeks at a time. In the spring of 1952 Forrest and Thelma came in contact with a doctor who thought he could correct the leaky valve with surgery but she would have to spend time in the hospital in Boston to build her strength prior to the surgery. Before the operation could be performed she suffered a major stroke. If only she could have had the surgery! It would have been one of the first open heart operations.  Instead she died of a second stroke on Jon's 13th birthday, 29 October 1952.  It practically killed Forrest. This is how I described it in the Eulogy.
"When our mother died he grieved terribly. Sometimes at night I would hear him pacing the floor outside my door and I'd get up and play cards or chess with him. Those were very difficult times for him, coping with two active growing kids and trying to maintain a household while overwhelmed with grief. But he always came home to us at night. And he always managed to get a meal on the table. Potatoes were his specialty. He also tried to get us to church every week. These things were made more difficult by the fact that our old Studebaker konked out that winter. We took the bus a lot. And I can remember more than once carrying sacks of groceries a mile home from the store. Finally he did the only thing he could do. He left his friends and memories and came to Illinois so that Aunt Musa, my mother's sister, could help raise us."

He went to work for Gramer-Halldorson Transformer Corp, Chicago, designing and testing transformers. It was a long commute everyday on the train. It was ten months before we found a place where we could all live together, a flat in Highwood, IL. Until then Dianne lived at the YWCA in Highland Park with Aunt Musa and Forrest and Jon lived in a tiny upstairs apartment nearby and every night Aunt Musa and Dianne would walk the mile up St John's Avenue to cook and eat supper at the apartment.  The next spring Daddy, Jon, Aunt Musa and I moved into a large apartment together in Highwood, Illinois. That was an interesting year. Dad was still feeling very forlorn and uprooted, Jon had turned into an awkward teenager, Aunt Musa was trying to maintain the household, put up with us all and keep up her job as a YWCA executive, and was kind of just there.

Sometime during that second year without our Mommy Forrest met, and courted Kathryn Kleasner. They married on 16 July 1955.  After that our lives became much more peaceful and stable. These were probably the most contented years of my dad's life as under her sunny disposition and good organizing skills we all flourished.

When Forrest and Kathryn married we moved to a little house in Waukegan, Illinois.  Also about that time Dad began working for Kleinschmidt Laboratories responsible for the selection of electrical components used in manufactured equipment for Signal Corps.  In August 1957 he changed jobs again and began employment with the Ninth Naval District, Utilities Division, Great Lakes, Illinois as an electrical engineer, where he spent the rest of his working life. Two high points of his years at Great Lakes were being named Federal Employee of the year for the Chicago area and earning his professional engineer certification, both in 1965.

In 1969 he retired and he and Kathryn moved to the Seattle area. Forrest loved the Pacific Northwest where he had been raised and he had always wanted to retire there.  He had drawn up plans for a retirement home he wanted to have built and he looked forward to trips and travel.  But Kathryn's health was not good.  Even though she spent four months in University of Washington Hospital, the doctors were unable to definitively diagnose her multiple sclerosis which was progressing rapidly.  So instead of the retirement house, they found a beautiful apartment right on the beach in Edmonds, Washington.  And instead of travel, Forrest enjoyed watching the boats on Puget Sound and visiting with all the older gentlemen he would meet while walking about town.  

In 1975 they moved to Madison, Wisconsin because of Kathryn's health issues, coming to Oakwood Retirement Village in 1979. After the move to Oakwood it became more and more clear that Dad's mind was going. He was diagnosed as having Parkinson's Disease with dementia. By the fall of 1985 Kathryn, who had become quite crippled and was wheelchair bound, was no longer able to care for him and he had to be moved to a nursing home. He died on March 8, 1989 at the New Glarus Home in New Glarus, Wisconsin.

I close this story with a section from the eulogy I gave at his Memorial service.

"My dad had kind of a fierce look about him that might have gone well with a ancient warrior or king. His bald head with the black fringe of hair, his dark eyes that looked out from deep wells, his heavy dark eyebrows, and his tall stature would have been impessive on a Roman soldier or a Spanish conqueror. I was a teenager before I began to appreciate the fact that his visage did not in any way match his demeanor. Yes he had a temper, but his bark was worse than his bite. And underneath it all he was a real pussy cat of a man that needed someone to take care of him. He was gentle and tender and affectionate. Sharon at the nursing home summed it up when she said, 'So often when people get older and develop things like Alzheimer's, their true nature comes out and they can get very cranky and irritable. But your dad was always pleasant to everybody. He was a true gentleman in the truest sense of the word.'

I'd like to share three things about my dad's character that I especially admire. First of all, he was basically I think, a man of simple pleasures and simple dreams. And in this world of people who seem to need more and more of everything to be happy, I find that very refreshing. He loved to read. He read voraciously science and history and literature and for many, many years he remembered everything he read. He had a wonderful mind. My dad was a good humored fellow who loved to razz and hear and tell a good story. We used to joke that Aunt Musa could remember the details of meals she had eaten 50 years ago. well, Dad could remember the punch lines of funny incidents that had happened 50 years earlier. And especially as he grew older he enjoyed roaming around town and "shooting the breeze" with various older gentlemen of the same inclination. My dad enjoyed good food, gadgets, playing solitaire, and going for drives in the country. And he loved his country very much. He was also a man of simple dreams. He had a dream retirement home that was drawn but never built. He also dreamed of retiring in the Pacific northwest which he did for six years and heartily enjoyed it and gave us wonderful vacations there. And he dreamed of traveling. Though I know he didn't get to all the places he wanted to, he did get to Churchill, Canada and to Alaska. In our time these are simple dreams and pleasures.

The second thing I admire about my dad is that he had great respect for the women in his life. He was non-chauvinistic and that's why it took me so long to understand the women's lib movement. He always encouraged me academically and never led me to believe there was anything I couldn't do just because I was female. He always took time to help me with my homework in math and English. I wish I could say that because of him I went on to become a great scholar. It wasn't for lack of his encouragement that I didn't. I know he must have been terribly disappointed when I dropped out of school to get married, but he accepted it and was just as proud of me as a wife and a mother as he had been of me as a scholar.

The third thing that I admire is he was a man of steadfast affection who never wavered in his loyalty. He had two wives. He loved each of them very much. Each of them ended up in a wheelchair and required a great deal of care from him. And yet I don't believe he ever complained. He got Irritable at times, but it was a fleeting irritation. In each case he considered himself very lucky to have such a wonderful wife. And he did his very best as long as he could. I know there's a lesson here for me.

So this was my dad - a fine man that we loved very much. A man of steadfast affection - a true gentleman."

Oh, one more thing I admire --- his hair never did turn gray!

Love,

Granny

Kathryn Virginia KLEASNER

The  Kathryn Virginia Kleasner Story

1918 New Franklin, Missouri - 1992 Madison, Wisconsin

3 November 2004

Dear Children,

Tonight I want to tell you about a very special lady that your Mommy loved very much. And I did too.  And so did everyone that knew her. She is the person we call Grandma Zimmerman,  Kathryn Virginia Kleasner Zimmerman.  Kathryn was born to a poor young farming couple, Lewis and Mattie Lou Kleasner, in rural Howard County, Missouri near the town of New Franklin, on the 24th of July, 1918, at 5:00 o'clock in the morning.  She was their second child, their first being 20 month old Lewis Junior. Kathryn's nickname in her birth family was always "Sis."  Soon after Kathryn came Evelyn Lucille in 1920 whom everyone called "Tudie." Then it was eight years before the next child, Earl Wayne, was born in 1928, and two years later the last child, Kenneth.  Sis and Tudie fought all the time.  Sis took a scar to her grave that Tudie gave her once with a bite on the arm. However, they were both old enough to be little mothers to Kenny and Wayne, whom they both adored.

Farm life was hard for the Kleasners. I don't believe they were ever able to own their own farm.  They rented.  Everything they ate, they grew. This is the way Kathryn described life on the farm in the days of her childhood in a letter to her granddaughter Dawne in 1974.

"Our way of life was rather primitive in some ways such as no electricity, running water, and definitely no modern conveniences of today.  We had to grow all our food.  That covered meat, (pork and beef) chickens, vegetables and fruits. Lots of our summer days were spent in the vegetable garden, hoeing and keeping weeds from taking over. We had to can all vegetables and fruits and place them in a food cellar.  My mother was the kind that definitely canned enough food of all kinds to feed her family all winter.

"Butchering time for the pigs and beef was a neighborhood affair. Neighbors helped one another as killing a big beef or porker was a big job. This could not be done until very cold weather started.  You had to cool your fresh meat good before you cured it. This was done in what they called a "smoke house." After your pork was all trimmed and sugar and salt coated it was smoked by burning very small hickory logs in this tightly closed house. The trimmings were fat from the pigs so that called for a big session of cutting this fat into small chunks and cooking it in a big kettle over a fire. That was called lard and was long before Crisco was ever heard of.   Some of the meat had to be canned. A lot was made into sausages and smoked. The farm ladies always made head cheese - truly a delicious part of fresh meat. My father usually butchered 5 or 6 big hogs. They usually milked about 6 Jersey cows and that meant lots of rich cream to be made into butter and sold at the grocery store.

"As for fun, we had to make our own fun. We were always allowed to have neighborhood children over and we were luckier than some farmers as we had a car.  My father was a great lover of the model "T" Ford and also had a Ford tractor.  Our dad was wonderful at going after our friends for us.   One thing Grandma remembers so well that was so much fun - We didn't have paved highways and when a snow storm hit opening up roads was unheard of. One of our neighbors had a huge horse drawn sleigh.  So he would start out and go from farm to farm gathering up all the children for school.  We always sang songs.  What fun!

"Would you believe Grandma went to a one room school house where all eight grades were taught?  How we did have fun when time came to put on our Christmas play.  We all would take a sheet and would make curtains that would draw.  Our plays were something to remember.  Another thing that was a lot of fun - we always held a "pie social" every fall at school.  The girls were to trim a box up pretty and make a pie.  Then at the social the boys would bid on them.  You never knew who would help you eat your pie.

"One nice thing - we had telephones.  Kids talked as much on them then as they do today.  Another thing that was fun - Grandma and Aunt Tudie always built a "pretend" house under a big apple tree.  That worked fine until my brother and his friends would come to visit us."

More memories of childhood come from an article I wrote about Kathryn in the Oakwood newsletter of June 1982.

" The girls learned to sew on brightly printed flour sacks from which they made their dresses.
They had fun, too, a play house under an apple tree,  baseball in the summer,  and on winter evenings playing cards and popping corn.  The three older ones rode several miles to a one-room school on a little horse named Trixie.  Her father allowed bands of gypsies who traveled the countryside to camp near the house and her mother gave them milk for their children. They told fortunes for a penny.  When her Grandfather Brown went out to have his told in the evening, Kathryn worried about him, but he would be back in the morning and the gypsies gone.

"During the Depression many men who were out of work walked the roads or rode the freight trains looking for odd jobs.  Though her daddy couldn't afford to hire them, her mother always managed to find something for them to eat."

The Great Depression hit rural America earlier than it hit the cities.  During the First World War (1914-1918) the United States had become a bread basket for the troops fighting in Europe.  Farmers thrived and expanded their fields. After the war, which ended in 1918, farmers kept up the higher level of production, but with the war market gone, demand for farm products declined and prices fell - dramatically.  Since farmers were getting less money for their crop they decided to make up for it by growing even more which caused prices to fall further.  So the 1920's, when Kathryn was a little girl, were a time of depression on the farm.  While people in the cities were getting running water and lights in their homes, these modern conveniences were not coming to the farms, at least not the ones in central Missouri where Kathryn lived. Everything had to be used very carefully.  Nothing could be wasted.  And although the Kleasners were poor by today's standards, they didn't feel poor because everybody they knew was in the same boat.

The following story comes again from the Oakwood newsletter article.  After finishing the eighth grade in 1932 Kathryn couldn't afford to go to the high school ten miles away.  Besides, the family needed any money she could earn by working for families in the area. The pay was negligible and she suffered agonies of homesickness.  In fact, in all the jobs she held over the next 20 years, she never got over being homesick.  

In Kansas City she got a better job, earning $6.50 a week out of which she saved enough to buy a radio for her father and brothers to listen to ball games.  On her days off she enjoyed the local YWCA where she made two fast friends among the working girls.  They were Agnes Quinllan and Esther Albers.  Eventually the three friends went to the Chicago area to work for wealthy familites along Lake Michigan.  Though she worked for a kind family, the Angster's, with a huge house near the lake, Kathryn was so homesick that she took a bus to Missouri every time she could.  The first year her family had electricity she saved enough money to buy her mother a refrigerator. And once again she found social life at the YWCA.

I want to tell you a little bit about the YWCA because it played such an important part in the history of our family.  Young Women's Christian Association was formed in London by Emma Roberts and Mrs. Arthur Kinnaird in 1855 and  was introduced to the United States in 1858.TThroughout its history the YWCA has been in the forefront of most major movements in the United States as a pioneer in race relations, labor union representation, and the empowerment of women. Here are some highlights of the YWCA's history that I gleaned from their web page. 
In 1860 - The YWCA opened the first boarding house for female students, teachers and factory workers in New York City as women moved from farms to cities.  In the 1870s - Recognizing women's needs for jobs, the YWCA held the first typewriting classes for women, formerly considered a man's occupation, and opened the first employment bureau.  In 1946 - YWCA adopted its Interracial Charter - eight years before the US Supreme Court decision against segregation.  In the  1950s - As African countries became independent, the United States sent leaders who moved from village to village to tell the YWCA story and help women marshal their own leadership and resources to create indigenous YWCAs in Kenya, Uganda, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), South Africa and elsewhere.  Uganda achieved remarkable participation - 90 percent of women were YWCA members by the 1990s.  In 1960 - The Atlanta YWCA cafeteria opened to blacks, becoming the city's first desegregated public dining facility.  Separate black YWCA branches and facilities were integrated into the whole.
I also want to tell you a little bit about the YWCA as we knew it in Highland Park, Illinois.  It was a huge 100 year old house about six blocks west of Lake Michigan. Young women working in the area rented the upstairs rooms for a nominal fee like $20 per month.  There were programs and classes for many groups of people - the elderly, African Americans, women who worked in the wealthy North Shore homes.  There were painting classes, bridge classes, dancing classes.  There were always people, more kinds of people than I had ever known existed, coming and going.  I learned right away that the motto of the YWCA was that it was for all women without regard to race or creed or religion.
It was at the Highland Park YWCA at 474 Laurel Avenue, which no longer exists because it was torn down to make room for a library expansion in the 1960's, that Kathryn met a little dark haired girl who had lost her mother and had come to live with her aunt who was the executive director of the YW.  The girl liked the plump lady with the beautiful smile and would watch for her coming.  A real love affair developed between the two.  A year later when the girls' father and brother came to visit, Kathryn's cheerful ways captured the heart of the grieving  father and in 1955 they were married. Instantly she became the mother of the girl (Yes, that's me, Dianne Irene Zimmerman Stevens) and the 15 year old boy (my brother,  Jon Christian Zimmerman).

She joined the family in a  project house in Waukegan, Illinois. It was a little 3 bedroom house exactly like 100 others in the neighborhood, but oh how happy we were there.  It's hard to explain the magic Kathryn worked on our family.  Under Kathryn's management home became an oasis of  peace and order and happiness. Kathryn was 37.  It was her first and only marriage.  She may have brought extra joy in knowing she no longer had to worry that her dreams of family and home would go unfullfilled.  The  Zimmerman family had been limping along without a mother for nearly three years.  We truly appreciated the homemaking skills Kathryn brought with her.  More than that we all thrived under the spell of  genuine love that she brought.

The following spring the job of Resident Director of the Highland Park YW opened up. For 10 years, along with her home duties Kathryn ran the Y's residence  for 15 girls, supervised the upkeep of the building and kept the books. She loved her job, though it was difficult to keep up both at home and at work. Kathryn rose at 5:30 every morning and seldom came home before 6 at night.  For most of those years she commuted to work on the train - Chicago & Northwestern.  People coming to the YW loved being greeted by her warm smile just as Dianne had.  She was an extremely capable manager. Her talents were so appreciated that at one point when Aunt Musa DeMouth left the position of executive director to take a job in Billings, Montana, that job was offered to Kathryn.  She turned it down because she was intimidated at the prospect of standing up and giving reports to the extremely well-educated women on the board of directors.  She was very aware of only having an eighth grade education. One highlight of that job was the Christmas bazaar held every year in the fall.  Kathryn loved making things to sell.  Another was the opportunity to work at the Americanization of Gilda Bosco. The first day Gilda, who was a new immigrant from southern Italy, worked at the Y she put the electric toaster in a sink of hot soapy water. Kathryn proved a patient and persistent teacher and we became life-long friends with Gilda and her family.  One of the bizarre stories that I remember from those days was the time when the board had hired a fairly screwy executive director who kept believing the Y was being visited by an intruder every night. She talked Kathryn into staying overnight and hiding in her office closet to apprehend the said intruder...but only once.  That Exec was gone soon after that incident.

By 1966 it was becoming clear that something was not right with Kathryn's health. She was having more and more trouble walking.  She had had to give up travelling to work on the train and instead Forrest drove her back and forth everyday.  In 1966 she had back surgery to remove a growth on her spine.  Afterwards she needed a walker to walk and she sadly gave up her YWCA job .

In 1969 Forrest retired from his job as an electrical engineer at Great Lakes Naval Base.  He had always dreamed of retiring in his beloved Pacific Northwest. So they packed up their belongings, sent them on ahead by moving van, and they took the train to Seattle. Kathryn arrived in pretty sorry shape.  She could barely walk even with the walker and was in constant pain.  She soon landed in the University of Washington Hospital's neurology unit. She was there for four months, lost 100 pounds, and came out in a wheelchair.  Although the doctors thought she might have Multiple Sclerosis they weren't sure and no one told her it was a possibility. In the meantime Forrest had moved them to a lovely apartment overlooking Puget Sound in the town of Edmonds, north of Seattle.  That's where your Mommy and her brother and sister came every summer to visit for 4 years. And what wonderful visits they were! Grandpa was anxious to show his grandchildren every sight that could be seen. And Dianne and her mom no matter how hard they tried never ran out of things to talk about.  But the years in Edmonds were lonely for Kathryn.  She never got over missing the hubbub  of her job at the YWCA.  Forrest could come and go, make friends, and join in community activities.  It was different for Kathryn.  She was confined in her wheelchair now and it was difficult to get out and meet people.  She got tired of looking out at "that old water."  Forrest had had dreams of travel, but that was not to be for Kathryn.  She encouraged Forrest to go without her and he did so.  One time when he went on a trip to Alaska, Kathryn fell. Unable to get up she spent many hours on the floor before she was able to work her way to the telephone and call for help. Her health was not improving.

So in 1975 Forrest reluctantly moved with her back to Madison, Wisconsin to be near Dianne and her family.  They enjoyed their grandchildren immensley but it seemed to be the beginning of a long slow decline for Forrest.

One of their first acts was to get a new neurological report on Kathryn. She was in the University of Wisconsin Hospital's Neurology unit which was out on East Washington Avenue at that time. After many tests they came up with the diagnosis of neurological disorder of uncertain etiology.   They said she might have Multiple Sclerosis but they weren't sure.  So Kathryn kept trying to walk, walking up and down the hallway with her walker everyday.   The next major event in Kathryn's life happened in late summer of 1976.  She fell while transferring in the bathroom. She broke her thigh bone just above the knee. Dr. Breed put her leg in traction.  She hung there for seven weeks.  The leg never did heal properly. Eventually they sent her home and she never stood on her legs again.  Forrest bought a hoyer lift and a van with a motorized lift and they learned to get along with the aide of this special equipment.  Forrest was wonderful. He had to get Kathryn out of bed every morning and into bed every night, but like his father before him he never complained.   Kathryn quickly learned to take care of all her other needs herself.

In 1979 they moved once more to Oakwood Retirement Home, 15th floor. Here Kathryn was truly happy. She and Forrest went to the dining hall every night, and with her warm smile and caring nature, Kathryn quickly made friends with almost everyone in the building.  When Forrest's health declined to the point that he was no longer able to help Kathryn in and out of bed, she found outside help and remained very independent.  Now it was her turn to take care of him.  He could walk and move but could not remember what to do.  She couldn't walk but knew exactly what needed to be done. And for the next several years they made a pretty good team.  Eventually Forrest needed much more than Kathryn's supervision and in the fall of 1985 had to go to a nursing home. He died in 1989.  Kathryn remained at Oakwood and flourished in the glow of friendships she had made inspite of numerous aflictions.
Besides her undiagnosed neurological disorder, Kathryn had terrific arthritis, occassionally suffered from TIAs (transient ischemic attacks)(they are mini-strokes which supposedly to not leave permanent damage.), and sporadically developed decubitis ulcers.  On the night of  May 1, 1990 she suffered a TIA.  It knocked out her ability to speak and did not seem to be reversing itself as previous ones had done.  After several hours she decided perhaps she'd better go to the hospital. So I called the ambulance and off we went to St. Mary's Hospital. By the next day the TIA had totally disappeared but they wanted to keep her several days to treat the decubitis ulcer on the back on one heel.  The day before she was to go home, she was in her wheelchair on a platform having a whirlpool treatment for the leg.  Someone came along and bumped her chair.  The chair rolled off the platform and Kathryn fell out onto the floor.  No one realized it till the next day, but both her legs were broken.  She never returned to her apartment again. Instead she was sent to Oakwood's nursing home where she stayed for a month, rarely getting the proper care.

So in June of 1990, she came to live with the Stevens family.  This made for a busy household as Heather had suffered a severe brain injury and needed constant care and Daniel was only 6 years old. Cindy Maloy, Dianne Hess, and Elspeth Gordon were three people who helped us get through those days.  Kathryn was not easy to care for.  She had both legs out in front of her in splints.  Being out of commission in the nursing home for a month, she had lost many abilities including the ability to sit up properly, feed herself, and to write.  She had no bed mobility at all and had to be turned.  She had gone from being almost totally independent to being totally dependent.  And then she developed terrific diarrhea which last for four months and was only then traced to the medication baclofin that had been prescribed in the hoispital to keep her legs from spasming in the splints and rubbing on the decubiti.   Fortunately Kathryn never remembered the diarrhea. It took two people to move her from bed to chair and back.  And Heather still needed help too.  Someone got us in touch with the Chinese group in town.  We went through nine Chinese women.  Then we tried the Polish.  We went through three Polish live-ins.  Somehow we all survived and kept smiling.  I remember one call I made home to Dianne Hess one evening when I had Dan at the doctor's for an ear infection.  It went something like this:  "After you get Grandma's diarrhea cleaned up and have given Heather her exercises, could you please clean up the cat vomit in the backhall?"  We all had a good laugh about that one. We kept a diary of those days.  All the volumes are carefully stowed away in the Box room.

After we conquered the diarrhea Kathryn had one fabulous year at the Stevens home before beginning to go downhill  in the fall of 1991. It's surprising how many threads of her life came together in her last few months. Her son, Jon, and his wife, Nancy, came to visit.  Her brother Kenny, whom she hadn't seen in 25 years, came to visit her.  A friend from childhood, whom she had not seen in 60 years, wrote to her. Her old friend from the Y, Viola Poore, whom she hadn't seen in twenty years, called and they had a wonderful telephone visit.  A large group of Oakwood friends came over to Stevens' house for an afternoon party. And she made one last visit to the dining hall at Oakwood Village.  She died of heart failure at University Hospital on the 10th of February 1992.  An autopsy showed she had indeed had multiple sclerosis.

You may be wondering what became of her dear farm family in Missouri. Grandpa Lewis Kleasner died only two years after Kathryn's marriage in June of 1957. Grandma Mattie Lou took it very hard and several months later attempted to swallow a bottle of aspirin, but was found in time to revive her. She moved into town with her younger daughter,Tudie, and lived for ten more years. Tudie was married to a man who drank too much.  She supported him and herself and then her mother on her wages as a telephone operator. After her husband and her mother died, Tudie married again and seemed to be very happy  But she died of heart problems less than a year later. Lewis Jr. grew up just in time to get in on World War II.  He drove a tank in the Battle of the Bulge and then on through Germany.  He helped to liberate the concentration camps.  Lewie lived most of his life in California.  Wayne and Kenny both loved to play baseball. Kenny was a on a Yankee farm team for awhile. Wayne married a tiny woman named Gladys and they had two daughters - the only blood grandchildren from Lewis and Mattie Lou.  Wayne had his own trucking business near Columbia for many years.  Kenny was the only child who finished high school - and just in time for the Korean War.  After the war he went to college and had a wonderful job for many years with Brown & Root, doing something with pipelines in Bahrain. He and his wife Johnnie live in Houston, Texas. The Kleasners were all wonderful people, cheerful and hardworking, just like Kathryn - just good-salt-of-the-earth people.  My brother and I adored them.  We always looked forward to our trips to Missouri with eager anticipation.

This is what I said about "Grandma" at her Memorial service:

"My mom was a super nice lady with a big heart and a big smile.  She had tremendous organizational abilities, she was a wonderful mother, and she radiated a courageous joyful spirit.

"My mom had a big heart. She came from a poor Missouri farm family, She had to leave home when she was just 14 to help support her family.  But she always had a heart for the poor. Maybe she got it from her dad whom she said would always find something to share with the hobos who would stop by their farm.  When she was a very young woman she left Missouri and went to the Chicago area to work.She was upset for a long time by the experience of riding on the train through Chicago's slum neighborhoods.  It made her so sad to think that anyone would have to live in such places. When we were growing up it seemed that whenever she received a request in the mail to help the poor she would always find a few dollars to send.

"My mom had a big smile. Her smile could light up a whole room. The first time I ever remember seeing her was one day when she came through the big front door at the YWCA where I was staying with my aunt.  She had such a beautiful smile and it seemed like it was just for me.  After that whenever groups of people would come to the Y for meetings, I would always watch and hope that the lady with the beautiful smile would come.

"My mom had tremendous organizational abilities.  When she married my dad we were a forlorn raggle- taggle little group, my dad, my brother and me.  And she made us such a good home. Though it was humble by material standards, she used her many skills to make it an oasis of peace and order and happiness in a bustling busy world. It was such fun to help her with the housework because she took such pride in it and enjoyed it so.

"My mom was a wonderful mother.  She made me feel I had no problem too large or too small for her to be concerned about. I remember when I was a full-grown high school girl I would look forward to each evening when she would get home from work, and while she changed her clothes I would sprawl across the bed and tell her everything that had happened to me all day long and she would help me figure out what it all meant.  And we had such fun together! She really taught me to find the fun in everyday living.

"My mom was a woman of tremendous courage and spirit. She suffered with various physical problems all her life. She spent her last 20 years in a wheelchair. But she didn't let these things stop her from enjoying her friends and family and from running her own life the way she wanted it to be. Because of her great spirit I always felt like people who knew my mom socially would have been very surprised to learn how very physically handicapped she really was - and those who knew what shape she was in physically would have been very surprised to see how resourceful and ingenious she was at caring for herself, and how independent she was able to be.  She was a tremendous example for myself and many others of living with adversity.

"A former minister at my church was fond or quoting a great theologian who had said, 'Joy is the surest sign of the presence of God.'  Everytime I heard him say that the image of my mother came to my mind. My mom was a person who found joy in life. And she radiated joy to everyone around her. She was surely one of God's special people."

So, dear children, when you hear your mommy or me talk about "Grandma"  this is who we mean, Kathryn Virginia Kleasner Zimmerman.  She lived a full and wonderful life and though she had many adversities, she never stopped smiling.  I hope you will help us remember her because she never had birth children.  She was a beloved mother to Dianne, though a step-mother.  Dianne had Dawne.  Dawne had you.  So she was your step-great-grandmother.  And she would have adored you.

Love,
Granny

George Edward ZIMMERMAN

At father's death, George is living in Canby with mother.  He inherits $260.59.  Adam Z. estate papers

1920 Census - The family is living on 1289 Morrison St., George's occupation is listed as mechanic in the iron works trade.  His sister Mary's boarding house is at  410 Morrison.

1930 census - the family is living in the home George built on Wasco St.  George's occupation is listed as a sheet metal worker in the building trades.

An Email from my brother, Jon Zimmerman, about where George worked in Portland:  "I thought that he worked for the "Portland Naval Shipyard", but the list of WWII activities in Portland at doesn't list such a place. My second thought was that it was with Willammett Iron and Steel, but that is just a guess. I do know that pop [FEZ] took me abord one of the ships that his father [GZ] was working on. He had a cup of coffee with some of the supervisors. I was 6."

Regards,
W²

George Edward Zimmerman

1879 Carrolton, Fillmore, Minnesota - 1965 Portland, Multnomah, Oregon

 1 February 2005

Dear Children,

Tonight I want to tell you about my Zimmerman Grandpa, George Edward Zimmerman.

George's father, Adam Zimmerman, had been married before, to Eve Hopp.  Adam and Eve had seven children, 4 of whom died in early childhood or infancy.  Then Eve died so Adam married again,  this time to Elizabeth Britzius.  Both Adam and Elizabeth were the children of German immigrants.  Adam's parents had come from Altheim in Hesse, Elizabeth's from Bisterschied in Rheinland-Palatine.  Adam and Elizabeth had nine children, so altogether Adam fathered sixteen children. George was number thirteen for his dad and number six for his mother.

George Edward was born 7 Oct 1879, Carrolton Township, Fillmore County, Minnesota, when his father was still rather young at only 42.

Adam's mother died at his home in Minnesota in 1888. And George's youngest sister, Della was born in Minnesota in 1888.  It was sometime after that the family migrated to the Canby area in Clackamas County, Oregon.  It is very likely they rode the same Immigrant train that Minnie's family took west in 1883.

As George reached adulthood, his father gave him a spinning wheel with which George hoped he could somehow make a living.  It was a particularly nice spinning wheel and George carefully took it apart, tied the pieces together and stored it in the top of the smokehouse for safekeeping.  The following winter it was lost in a fire.  Soon after this event, George left home and went to work for J. J. Kaderly who ran a hardware store in Portland.  In the 1900 Census George is living in Portland in his half-sister, Mary's, boarding house, along with his brother, Aaron, and his sister, Maggie.

After several years, in 1904, George married Minnie Wintermantle.  She was from a neighboring farm in Canby.  After his marriage he opened his own hardware store in Asotin, Washington.  Now Asotin is in the far southeast corner of Washington.  It's a long long ways from Canby, Oregon.  Why did he decide to go there to open a store?  I vaguely recall my father telling that George went to Idaho to work in a logging camp.   Asotin is just across the state line from Idaho.  Perhaps George was in Idaho working in a logging camp and saw opportunities for a merchant.  He had inherited a small sum ($260.59) from his father, Adam, when he died in 1899.  Perhaps George had saved this money and invested it in his hardware store after he married Minnie.
Asotin was the county seat of Asotin County and George served there as a judge for several years. There was a logging camp nearby and the town could be a rough place on Saturday night when the loggers came to town and got drunk.  Judge Zimmerman frequently had to throw them into jail.  The logging camp manager was one of George's biggest customers at the hardware store.  He was also a very shrewd trader.  To avoid going bankrupt George loaded his hardware store onto a large wagon and moved it to the neighboring town of Anatone.  By the time Forrest, their one and only child, was born in 1909, George and Minnie had moved clear back across the state to Tacoma. According to the 1910 census, George, Minnie and Forrest are living with Minnie's mother, and sister Ella and her family at 1223 South M Street. George is working in a hardware store as a tin smith. He doesn't own the store, someone else does, so he must have not done so well with the store in Anatone either. When I asked my dad what his father was doing in Tacoma, he told me George was working as a flour salesman.  Maybe that was after he worked as a tin smith.  Or before.  The first home Forrest remembered was in Outlook, Washington, which is in the south central part of the state.  There George tried farming.

During World War I George and a cousin worked in a shipyard in Astoria, Oregon for the Astoria Marine Iron Works.  The cousin was a general superintendent for construction of the ships. The ships were wooden with a reinforced steel band around the outside.  George was a steam fitter.  He ran an assembly line to put up ladders and gratings around the ship's boilers.  The weather in Astoria was awful.  George said, "The wind there could drive the rain through a pine door!"  Forrest wrote some of his recollections of days in Astoria for Dawne when she was a young girl working on a Girl Scout badge.  You can see that letter if you go to "Forrest Zimmerman."

After the war George moved his family to Portland where his half-sister, Mary, was living.  George and Mary had always been close. The 1920 census shows Mary running a boarding house at 410 Morrison St. George and his family are right down the street at 1289 Morrison.  His occupation is listed as a mechanic in the iron works trade.  Jon Zimmerman remembers George worked at a Portland shipyard.  By 1930 they were living on Wasco Street and his job is listed as "sheet metal worker."  George built their home at 3142 NE Wasco. It was a darling little house. The 1930 census lists its worth as $6000.00.  I imagine George put in every screw and nail and shelf in the place.  He was very handy with tools.  In the backyard he had a large vegetable and fruit garden.  I especially remember that he grew many kinds of berries and that he composted all his vegetable scraps. That was their final family home.

When my dad was away in WWII, my mother, brother Jon, and I lived with George and Minnie (called Dad and Maw) until my father, Forrest returned from the war.  I have one vivid memory of my grandpa George from that time, even though I was only two.  I remember him asking me, with a twinkle in his eye, if I'd like to go with him for "bake stuff."  I don't remember the actual "Going" part, but I sure remember the asking.

As George grew older he became deaf.  By the time he was 50 his hearing was almost totally gone.  This may have been due to all the noise involved with his job.  

In November of 1952 Minnie suffered a severe stroke that left her paralyzed and unable to speak above a whisper for the rest of her life.  George cared for her at home throughout her remaining years. He was a very patient and attentive nurse.  When we went to visit we marveled at how, although George literally could not hear thunder, Minnie would call out, "Dad!" in her faint wispy voice and he would come running, even from the backyard.

After Minnie died in 1959, George, approaching 80, gave up his home and moved into a hotel at 1405 SW Washington St.  He could get his meals there and seemed to do pretty well.  For several summers during that time he came back east and stayed with us in Waukegan, Illinois.  But Forrest and Kathryn were unsuccessful at persuading him to move in with them.

When I suddenly got married in October of 1962, I received the following letter from her Grandpa George:

"11-2-62    Dear Dianne and Paul,
Received your letter today, and nearly passed when I read it. But the nurse then came and took charge, and I was soon O.K. I wish you a long and happy life together. And I will have to find you a nice new Grandma.  That will be Paul's job.  We had a nice party Halloween here at the hotel.  We are having fine weather.  Just like spring so warm.  I took a little cold and now my sinuses are troubling but think I will be well in a few days.  Feeling fine otherwise.
With Love, Grandpa
Write again"

In 1964 he was moved into a nursing home. He went downhill fairly rapidly after that. We thought a lot of it was due to his being so isolated by his deafness. He died in 1965 at the age of 85.  In his wallet was a picture of  Dawne, his first great-grandchild.

I remember my grandfather George very well, even though I didn't get to spend a lot of time with him while I was a growing child. If I had to choose one word to describe him it would be "sweet."  If I could choose two the second would be "thoughtful."  The next three would be "capable",  "frugal,"  and "patient." I knew him when I was an older teenager and I thought of him as a very sweet old man.  Age had adjusted his body so he appeared short-waisted with very long legs. He always held his trousers up with suspenders which no doubt heightened the effect. He was totally bald and had big soft brown eyes.  He was not a smiley person.  When you spoke to him he looked at you intently, probably reading your lips, and that probably accounts for the thoughtful part.  Then he'd respond with one or two words.  Most often, the word "No."  

One only has to consider all the things he did in his life to see how capable he must have been.  He built at least two of his homes, the one in Astoria and the one on Wasco Street.  He worked on ships.  He ran his own hardware store, and when the location became inconvenient, he picked up the store and moved it.  He traveled back and forth across Oregon and Washington numerous times in the horse and buggy days.  He made many of his own tools. We had a beautiful butcher knife he had made.  Unfortunately it got stolen one time when Forest and Kathryn moved. His other tools ended up with his niece, Violet, who had helped him out when he was alone with Minnie.  He grew a huge garden.  He served as a frontier judge.  

He was frugal in the way many who struggled through the depression were.  He did not waste anything.  He took what he could eat and he cleaned his plate.  Coffee grounds and apple cores made good compost.  He drove his old Studebaker til he was too old to drive. Any unusual item that came his way, he stored  til he thought of some good use for it.  When he had to give up his home, Forrest marveled at some of George's collections. The attic was full of old newspapers and bits of string carefully rolled into balls.  He and Minnie never had a lot of money. They struggled,  but they lived well and provided well for their son by being capable and frugal.

He showed his capacity for patience in the way he cared for his ailing wife.  I don't believe he ever complained.   He was faithful and steadfast to the end of her life. I only wish someone could have been there to so faithfully care for him.

So that's the story of George Zimmerman, the dear sweet man that was my grandfather.  You wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for George because George and Minnie had Forrest, Forrest and Thelma Zimmerman had Dianne,  Dianne and Paul Stevens had Dawne,  Dawne and Jason Pamplin had....Sarah, Hannah, Timmy, and Becky!  

Love,
Granny

Wilhemina Julia WINTERMANTEL

The Wilhemina Wintermantle Story
1880 – 1959

January 2005 – edited 6 Nov 2013

DearChildren,

Tonight our Wintermantel story continues with my grandmother,  Wilhemina Wintermantel!  Isn't that a marvelous name?  Try to say that five times fast. I'm not certain I've spelled it correctly.  Actually, she was usually called Minnie, but my brother Jon and I called her “Maw.”

Wilhemina Julia Wintermantle was born  1 October 1880 in  Ackley, Iowa, or as the 1880 census shows her family in June of that year, Geneva township, Franklin County, Iowa, p. 5 of the listing for that township.  Ackley is right across the border in Hardin County, but it's the nearest town to where the Wintermantels lived, so they said she was born in Ackley.  She was the ninth child of Christian and Matilda Fey Wintermantel, joining 5 sisters, Rose,Tillie, Hettie, Amelia, and Louisa, and three brothers William, Albert, and Herman.  

In 1883, after her next sister, Clara, was born, the family traveled to Oregon on the first immigrant train in 1883, to become pioneers in Jefferson, Oregon. I wrote about that trip in the Christian Wintermantel chapter. Jefferson, Oregon  is south of Salem, the state capitol. Minnie's youngest sister, Eleanor Charlotte, was born there in 1885.  The family stayed there for 9 years.  I have a small remembrance book that Minnie had  her friends sign.  The signatures are from 1887 – 1892.

In 1892 the family moved on to Canby, Oregon in Clackamas County south of Portland. Christian farmed there until he died in 1897.  Minnie attended the Mundorff School in Canby and later taught there. Her sister Eleanor, whom they called Ella, married a Mundorff.  In those days a young woman did not need a lot of education to be considered a capable schoolteacher. Many young women taught after they graduated from 12th grade until they were married.  We don't know why Minnie taught only one year, nor what she did between that time and the time she married George Zimmerman in 1904. We do know that she was an accomplished pianist and  highly skilled in needlework.  Perhaps she was filling her hope chest during those years.  Or, her father having died in 1897, perhaps she had to help the older boys with the farm work. Knowing my grandmother even as little as I did, it is very hard to imagine her doing outside farm work.  She was always a very proper lady. She always waited for her gentleman (husband or son) to open the door for her and carry her packages into the house. This fact was reported to us by one of her neighbors when my family visited the Zimmerman home in the late 1950s.

In 1904 she married my grandfather, George Edward Zimmerman, who had  lived on a nearby Canby farm. Judging from the account of their moves given by my dad (see  George's story) the early years of her marriage must have been challenging. They were married in Canby, but lived in Asotin and Anatone, Washington, which are two towns in the far SE corner of the state. And my dad, their only child, was born in Tacoma, Washington which is on the Puget Sound south of Seattle. And remember, people didn't have cars to run around in in those days.  At another time my dad spoke of living at Outlook, Washington which is in the south central part of the state south of Yakima.  And he wrote about living in Astoria, OR, which is NW of Portland near the mouth of the Columbia River. So Minnie had to move her household around many times before they finally settled in Portland, Oregon after WWI.  The 1920 Census shows them living on Morrison St.  By the 1930 census they were settled in their home that George built at 3142 NE Wasco St. in Portland. Minnie lived there the rest of her life.

I never had the opportunity to know my grandmother well.  She was my only grandmother as my mother's mother had died before I was born.  I especially cherish the few memories I do have of her which I will share with you now.   Thelma (my mother) lived with the Minnie and George Zimmerman family after her mother died and until her marriage to Forrest (my father). She told about Minnie helping her sew her wedding dress.  Minnie insisted that every stitch be perfect.  She checked them.  The imperfect ones had to be torn out and resewn.

After Forrest joined the Navy in 1942 and before Dianne was born, Jon lived with Maw and Dad, as we called them. When Forrest was sent to Hawaii for the duration of the war Thelma and Dianne joined Jon and they lived with Maw and Dad until 1946 when Forrest returned and moved the family to Boston. Since I was less than three years old by that time, I have very few memories of that time and those few don't include Maw.

When we lived in Massachusetts I can remember our excitement when the mail brought a box from Maw and Dad.  Sometimes she sent handmade little dresses for me.  Another time she sent a huge peppermint candy.  Our Mommy said we had to save it to make ice cream.  We didn't want to wait but the ice cream was wonderful when it finally appeared.
Another time while Maw was talking on the telephone to us, she was in the attic and accidentally stepped between the joists and put her foot through the downstairs ceiling. We all thought that was terribly funny to think of Maw stuck in the ceiling.  I'm sure she didn't!  Another thing she sent was little stories she had written for Jon and me.  One was Goldbug Sam for which our mother started to make illustrations. I have assembled those drawings and transcribed the story into a book.  Others of these stories that I still have are The Candy Trees, The Flying Dutchman, and Puffy the Kitten.

When we lived in Lexington, Massachusetts she came to visit us once for about a month. I was in first grade at the time so it would have been 1949-1950. She taught me to make folded strings of paper dolls. I was enchanted and was soon making strings of boys and girls, dogs and cats, houses and cars.  Also during that trip she tried to teach Jon and me a little German.  I still remember Du bist wie eine Blume and Du bist ein Essel! (You are like a flower and You are a jack ass!). She told us stories about growing up in a large family.  Unfortunately all I can remember is that her older brothers were pretty naughty at times and there were an awful lot of dishes for the girls to wash.  She lavished attention on us children and we were sad to have her leave us.

When our mother died in 1952 it was very hard on Minnie and George to be so far away and so helpless. This is the letter she wrote to Forrest soon after.

Dear Darling Folks - That was hard news to take. She was beautiful and sweet and everybody loved her.  We can never forget her.  I suppose from what I wrote you that I'm not able to work but George has developed into a GOOD cook and gets well balanced meals.  He sure is good.  We and others wonder why God lets these things happen.  We will never know until that glad morning when we will meet again.  I'd like to be of some comfort to you.
What can we tell the children?  All my love goes to the children.  How can they understand?  About us coming back there, it just makes us feel there is some good we still can do.  God bless and help all of you.  Maw

It's not clear from this letter why she isn't able to "work." I believe she was recuperating from a sprained or broken arm.   Thelma died at the end of October.  About three weeks later Minnie suffered a severe stroke.  Jon and our dad went out to Portland at that time and Jon remembers that she was comatose. She regained consciousness but was bedridden for the rest of her life. Grandpa George took care of her at home for six years with some help from his niece, Violet Moore. Twice after my Dad remarried we drove out west to visit.  I remember that Maw was pleased when I played the piano and she gave me all her old piano music.  I wish I had kept it all.  Judging from that music, she must have been a quite talented pianist. It's funny my dad never said much about it.  Maybe it's because she had tried so unsuccessfully to get him to play piano.  Another thing I remember is that although Maw was in her late seventies, totally bedridden, and unable to speak more than an occasional word at a whisper, she still had her black hair.

Minnie loved to collect beautiful dishes.  My brother and I have quite a number of pieces that we inherited from her. There is a set of pre-WWII  Limoge china for 12, a footed glass jewelry box, and a lovely plate with a picture of a lady in it, and many other items. I also have her metronome and several pieces of jewelry.  The gold locket is one of my very favorite pieces.  I  have some lace that she made. I included a bit of it in the wedding quilt I made for Dawne and Jason.  She left a little box with my name on it.  Inside were pictures of each of her parents and the names of her grandparents and the names of all their children, her aunts and uncles.  This information was very helpful when I began to research my family tree.  She died at home on the 16th of February, 1959 and was buried at Canby near her parents.

Minnie was a good wife and a devoted mother. She was very proud of her brilliant son.  It must have been disappointing to her to have her only child  take his family off to the other side of the continent. In those days people didn't just tear across the country for a visit like they do now.  I am glad for the one visit we had with her at Lexington.  I didn't get to hear all her stories or to know her well but I know she loved me very much and I'm grateful for the time we did spend together.

Love,
Granny

From: "Jon Zimmerman"Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2005 
I don't know. I do know that she 'failed shortly after our mother's deth. When pop and I went out there, she was comitose.
W²
----- Original Message ----- From: "Dianne Z Stevens"
To: "Jon Zimmerman"
Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2005 3:46 PM
Subject: Maw
Here's another question. I have a note she wrote to our dad shortly after our mommy died. In it she talks about not being able to work and George having to do the cooking. Had she broken an arm or something? I can't believe the note was written after her stroke because I didn't think she was still able to write after the stroke.
Dianne

Samuel L. DEMOUTH

January 24, 2006

Dear Children,

Tonight I will tell you about my other grandfather, Samuel DeMouth.

Samuel L. DeMouth
12 Mar 1874 - 18 Mar 1939

Sam DeMouth came into the world on March 12 of 1874 in Christie, Clark County, Wisconsin.  He joined his brothers John and Don and his sister Eva.  After Sam came Sharlet and Lucinda.  But Lucinda only lived to the age of two.  The family moved from Calumet County, WI. to the farm at Christie in Clark County shortly before Sam was born.  We don't know too much about his early years except that life was a struggle for pioneer families in northern Wisconsin during the late 19th century.  In order to farm they first had to clear the land of the thick virgin forest without motorized tools or Home Depot. Once they succeeded in that they had to grow or produce almost everything they would use throughout the year. Sam's life was very like that described in the Laura Ingalls Wilder book, Little House in the Big Woods. In fact Laura was growing up not far away at the same time.  Winters were cold and long and hard. The year of 1884 when Sam turned 10 there was an especially harsh winter due to the explosion of the volcano Krakatoa on the other side of the world in Indonesia.

When Sam was about 20 he joined the army, following in the footsteps of his older brother, John.  Apparently Sam looked pretty sharp in his army uniform. Here is an article that appeared in The Clark Republican and Press March 12, 1896
"Samuel DeMouth arrived in this city Saturday, from Fort Snelling, Minnesota, where he is at present located as a member of Co. F. 3rd regiment, U. S. army. He has a furlough of twenty days, which time he will spend with his parents in Christie. His bright U. S. A. uniform attracted much attention."

About 1898 two things happened. Sam got married and then he got sent to the Philippine Islands for the Spanish American War with the rank of sergeant.

According to Sam's cousin, Erma Schaper, Sam's first wife's name was Jeanette. Sam is in the 1900 US census as a soldier in the Philippines.  That census form says he is married and has been for two years. I have a photo which looks like it must be a wedding photo of them. They were divorced before 1902.

Do you have any idea when the Spanish American War was or why it happened?  Here's a quick explanation. In the late 1800's both Cuba and the Philippines were under the control of Spain.  Between 1895 and 1898 people in both countries were fighting for independence. Many Americans were sympathetic to the plight of the Cubans because Cuba is close to us.  In 1898 the US battleship Maine exploded in the Havana Harbor. Nobody knows for sure why it exploded, but it caused the deaths of 266 US sailors, so the US declared war on Spain.  The war lasted only about a year and was easily won by the United States. It marked the beginning of our country's rise to  world power.

But, why did we fight Spain in the Philippines as well as Cuba?  It was really a fluke that the US attacked Spain in the Philippines. Teddy Roosevelt sent a telegram to Hong Kong for Commodore George Dewey, head of the US fleet of 10 brand new steel warships, saying that if the US went to war with Spain, Dewey should immediately take his ships and attack the Spanish in Manilla Harbor.  Roosevelt wasn't president.  He was an assistant secretary of the Navy.  He did this on a day when his boss was out of the office.  Roosevelt did not have the authority to give such an order.  When Dewey got the order he said to himself, "Hmm...There's something fishy here," and he sent a cable to President McKinley asking if he should take this action. President McKinley, who had just read a book about the importance of sea power, surprised everyone by saying, "Yes." So when the US invaded Cuba, Dewey sailed into Manilla Harbor, totally surprising the Spanish and everyone else, and defeated their fleet without the loss of one US sailor. (However, 400 Spanish lives were lost.) Then the army sent soldiers over to secure the prize Dewey had won. Sam DeMouth was one of them.

Isn't it funny?  Both Sam and his only son, Lester, were engaged in the US military involvement  with The Philippine Islands. Sam was with the army in the Philippines at the beginning of US control in 1898.  Lester was in the Philippines with the Marines when the US lost that control to Japan in 1942.

Sam and Elzora Maud Pierce (called Zoey) were married on the Pioneer Farm in Greenwood, Wisconsin on November 27, 1902.  They married in spite of her parents objections, probably because of the divorce.  Eleven months later their first child, Musa Irene, arrived.

Much of the rest of this story is based on tales told to me by my Aunt Musa.  Aunt Musa claimed her dad wasn't much of a man for hard work and to him, the grass was always greener on the far side of the hill.  There may be a lot of truth to that opinion.  Aunt Musa certainly knew him better that I did as he died before I was born.  In his defense, many farmers had a hard time making a living in the early 20th century. And many were lured west with the promise of instant riches.

In 1905 Sam's father died, leaving the farm in the hands of his three sons. Almost immediately the farm was in financial trouble. In 1906 Sam, his wife, and small daughter went west, all the way to Hood River country in Oregon.  There Zoey got a job as a cook in a logging camp and Sam joined his brother John in California, supposedly looking for work.  Instead of a job,  John and Sam got involved in a land scheme.  Sam wrote home to his mother asking her to mortgage the farm and send him the money for a logging operation.  When Aunt Musa told the story she never mentioned her Uncle John.  However, I have found a record of land patents issued to both John and Sam and their wives as well in 1905-1906 in the Mt. Diablo Meridian, Siskiyou County, of California. Cordelia got the money as requested, against the advice of her other children. The brothers used the money to buy the land.  Unfortunately there was no way to harvest the lumber. There were no roads, no rails, no rivers nearby. So the investment was a failure, and because of the debt, the family eventually lost their farm, their home, and their livelihood.

The 1910 census indicates the farm is mortgaged. They must have hung on for a few more years because my mother, Thelma Ellen DeMouth, was born on the DeMouth farm at Christie on March 10, 1911.  By then Sam's father, Jacob, had died.  Sam's brother Don had died. His sister Eva had grown up, married, had a child and died.  His sister Lottie was long gone and married, and his brother John was established in California. Only Sam's young family and mother, Cordelia, were left.  They sold the farm and by the time the next baby came, Lester Jacob on the 18th of December in 1913, the family had moved to Quinion, North Dakota.  Cordelia's another story.

And isn't it interesting to think about the rise and fall of wealth in this family.  Our immigrant ancestor and his son, Jacob and Frederick Demouth, amassed a fortune in land. The next Demouth, Adam, preserved the fortune.  The next Demouth, Jacob (b. 1763) lost the fortune.  The next two Demouths in our line, John and Jacob, spent their lives building up new farms in Wisconsin. Jacob's son, Samuel, lost the new farm in Wisconsin. Isn't it a good thing there are more important things in life than wealth?

Anyone who has ever traveled across the northern US plains might well ask, "Why North Dakota?" It's a desolate part of our country.  So much so that on old maps the area of land including eastern Montana and western North Dakota used to be referred to as "The Great American Desert." During the Civil War Congress had enacted "The Homestead Law." This law said that anyone who was a US citizen or intended to become one could claim 160 acres of open public land for free.  All he had to do was  to settle on and cultivate the homestead for five years. West of the Mississippi was full of open federal lands and people came by the droves, but not too many to North Dakota until after the railroads arrived in the 1880's and the native  American Indians were controlled. Two things happened in the early 1900s that brought many homesteaders to western North Dakota and eastern Montana. The railroads needed people to ride and send goods on their trains and to man the stations along the way. The railroad owners began a great advertising campaign praising the wonders of dry farming on the prairies. The second thing was the railroad owners lobbied Congress to expand the homestead act so a farmer could get 320 acres instead of just 160. Congress obliged.  But most years the land was just too dry for farming.  Adding to problems was a popular method of planting that removed the sod and pulverized the topsoil so that when the first dry year came not only did crops fail, the topsoil blew away as well.  So Sam DeMouth and his family were only one of many thousands of families who lost everything trying to farm in North Dakota in the early 1900's.

One interesting aspect to their time in North Dakota is, they did not go alone.  Zoey's parents, Frank and Martha Pierce, and her half-sister and half-brother, Winnie and Roy Pierce, and her adopted half-brother, Iner Pierce (originally Iner Bredison), all went with them.  Why did they leave Wisconsin?  Perhaps some future researcher will be able to unravel that mystery. But not everyone who went to the dry prairie failed. Winnie Pierce married a man named William Braden.  They were among those who stayed and survived in North Dakota.

My mother and Aunt Musa both talked about Winnie and Roy and life on the prairie.  I wish I had listened better. I remember that one of them told about how to deal with prairie fires. She said if you should find yourself on the prairie with a prairie fire coming at you the thing to do is not to run away from it.  You can't run that fast.  Instead, face the fire and run right through it.  Prairie fires are very shallow and once you're through, you're perfectly safe.  Read in Thelma's Story about Sam and the cow.

The letter Aunt Musa wrote to me late in her life tells more of their prairie experience.
     "Our childhood (days) after we left Wisconsin were not happy ones.  They were filled with so many fears when we were living in North Dakota; the fear of prairie fires, of rattlesnakes, and the fear of lack of necessities for living. I doubt if your mother ever told you of the winter we almost starved to death."  Homesteading on the prairie was probably not the ideal life for a man who "Didn't like hard work."

The two photos I have of the homes of Sam and of his father-in-law, Frank Pierce, give another clue to what life was like for the DeMouth family in North Dakota.

We know the DeMouths were in North Dakota as late as 1918 because Zoey was the postmaster at Quinion from 1916 until 1918 when the post passed to her father, Frank Pierce.  By the 1920 census the family has moved on to Montana where they bought a hotel in the town of Ballantine in Yellowstone County.  Sam listed his occupation on the census form as "hotel proprietor."  Zoey was the cook and manager.  They made a living there until one day when the hotel burned to the ground. (Read about that in the Musa DeMouth Story.)

Like many refugees from the dry plains, when their luck ran out (if they ever had any), the DeMouth family decided to head for the west coast where they had relatives in Portland.  They had no money for  train fare so they worked their way across country picking fruit. They would pick enough to pay their way to the next train stop, then get off and pick some more. (There's more about their journey to Portland in Thelma's Story.) I don't know exactly when they arrived in Portland.  My guess is mid-1920's.

The 1930 census shows them living in a part of Portland called Maplewood. Sam was working as a house painter and they had a boarder.  In the early 30's Zoey took a job in the Libby canning factory.  She was at work when she died in 1934. After that Lester joined the Marines, Musa graduated from Reed College and took a job in Pocatello, Idaho,  and Thelma went to live with the family of her intended, Forrest Zimmerman.  Sam didn't want to stay all by himself so he went to live with his brother John's daughter, Almeda, down in California.

Letter from Sam to Thelma mid to late 1930s.              "Gilroy, Cal   Sept 29 (no year)
Dear Daughter,
I guess you have been wondering why I did not write you. So I will drop you a line to let you know I am well.  Did not know just where to send it.  I suppose Musa told you I had been down to see Lester. He looks fine and weighs most 200 lbs. Got a letter from him today.  Said he had been firing the 6 inch gun.  The crew he is in made the highest score in the fleet. Would like to know how you are getting along. I have had a lot of work this summer, but not working this week.  I may be up there in the near future.The folks here are all well. Almeda would like one of your wedding pictures.
Was sorry to hear about Jack. I received a letter from him the other day.  Wish I could help him but don't know what I could do.  How is the Bonneville Dam coming?
All for this time
from Dad"

But at the time of his death, March 18, 1939, he once again lived in Portland at 4632 SE 76th St. He died of a massive stroke.

I never knew my Grandpa DeMouth. My view of him has always been colored by Aunt Musa's tales and comments. He had a hard life, probably from boyhood onward. In that respect he was no different from other folks in his generation. Life was hard and there was no social security or welfare. The chances he did have he blew, losing the lovely Wisconsin farm being the big one. On the positive side, he stuck it out.  He didn't abandon his family, the second one anyway.   Also in his favor, my father said that the DeMouths  were a happy bunch.  Whenever he went to their house there was much laughing and singing.  I think anyone who could laugh and sing after living through all the grief that Sam lived through deserves some credit.  Don't you?

Here is how you're related to Sam DeMouth.  Sam married Zoey Pierce and had Thelma DeMouth.  Thelma married Forrest Zimmerman and had Dianne Zimmerman.  Dianne married Paul Stevens and had Dawne Stevens.  Dawne married Jason Pamplin and had . . . Sarah, Hannah, Timmy, and Becky!  Hooray for Sam DeMouth!

Love, Granny

Elzora Maude PIERCE

Letter from Dianne Z. Stevens to her Grandchildren:

1301 Reetz Road
Madison, WI 53711-2645
March 10, 2002

Dear Sarah, Hannah, and Tim,

Have you ever heard of a story called “Little Women?” Ask your Mommy or Daddy to rent the movie for you because I think you’re old enough to see it. It is a very famous story written by a woman named Louisa May Alcott about 150 years ago.
She wrote about what life was like growing up in her family of four little girls. They did a lot of play acting and had wonderful adventures.  And they loved each other very much even though they were sort of poor.  If you can see the movie of that famous story you will understand better the story I am about to tell you of one of your great-great-grandmothers. She was my grandmother, Elzora Maud Pierce. But I never knew her because she died long before I was born.

Elzora Maud was always called Zoey by her family.  Zoey was born on a farm in central Wisconsin in Clark County. They called it “Pioneer Farm” because it had been hacked out of the wilderness by her grandfather, Warren Pierce, and his sons, one of whom was her father Frank Orlando Pierce. Her father’s ancestors had come to the United States way back in the 1600’s when we were still colonies.  They were related to President Franklin Pierce and also President George W. Bush, but that’s another story.  Her mother’s name was Sarah Jane Todhunter. Sarah’s family had come to Wisconsin from England, a place called Watermillock in Cumberland County, shortly before Sarah was born.

So here are Frank and Sarah up in the wilds of Wisconsin in the 1870’s.  First they had a daughter, Mabel Ethel (1878), and then Zoey was born in 1880. In 1882 they had another daughter, Jessie Irene. But two years later in 1884 something very sad happened. Sarah had another baby that lived only a day.  A  year and a half later Sarah died, leaving Frank with three tiny girls and a farm to care for all by himself.  Frank soon married again, a woman named Martha Greeley.  Martha already had a daughter named Gladys.  So now there were four little girls growing up together:
Mable, Zoey, Jessie, and Gladys, and they were very happy.

And, my! How they could play!  On cold Wisconsin winter evenings Martha would read to them and their favorite story was - Guess What?  Little Women!  Their favorite game to play was to pretend they were the four sisters in the story. Each of them chose one of the characters and they always took that part in their playing and even when they weren’t playing they still thought of themselves as that character. I’m not 100% sure of this, but I believe that Zoey played the part of Jo.  I think this because Zoey always loved books and reading and when she had her own children she taught them to love books too.

One very sad part of the story: in the book “Little Women” the character Beth catches Sarlet Fever and dies.  In the Pierce family little Jessie played Beth and she died when she was only 16 years old.    Jessie's middle name was Irene. The girls always wanted to remember their dear sister so they promised one another that when each of them had a daughter, they would give her the middle name of Irene. Mabel grew up and had Bessie Irene. Zoey grew up and had Musa Irene.  Gladys never had children.  However, Frank and Martha had another daughter, Winifred, and she grew up and named her first daughter Jessie Irene. That tradition has been carried on in our line of the family through Dianne Irene, and Hannah Irene.

When Zoey grew up she fell in love with a handsome young man who had just returned from the Spanish American War, named Samuel DeMouth.  He had been married before and that may be why Zoey’s family did not want her to marry him,  but they finally gave in and on November 27, 1902 they were married at the Pioneer Farm.
I still have one of their wedding invitations.   

It is a very good thing they did get married because otherwise you and I wouldn’t be here today (or your Mommy either.) But Zoey did have a hard life after she married Sam.   In 1906 or 07 Sam and Zoe and 3 yr old Musa    moved to Hood River Oregon where Zoey cooked for a logging camp while Sam "looked" for work.   She would tie Musa to a tree in the kitchen yard to keep her from wandering off while she cooked.

After a year when Sam still had not found work the young family returned to the farm in Christy where their second child, Thelma was born in 1911.  Shortly thereafter the farm was completely bankrupt, so the family left Wisconsin to try homesteading in North Dakota.  Their third child, Lester, was born there in 1913 at a place called Quinion that no longer exists.

The next time I write I will tell you about my mother’s girlhood and I don’t want to spoil it by telling you all the details of Zoey’s life after she married Sam.  But I will tell you this: Zoey was a WONDERFUL cook and for a good part of her life she helped earn the money to support her family by her cooking. She cooked for the logging camp and another time she cooked for a hotel in Montana. Your mommy probably inherited being such a good cook from her great grandmother, Zoey.

Zoey earned the family's living other ways too. When they lived in North Dakota she was the post mistress of the Quinion post office for two years, 1916 to 1918, before they moved on to Montana.  Zoey was still helping to support the family when she died at the age of 54 in Portland, Oregon of a heart attack.  At that time she was working at the Libby canning factory.  I'm not sure about this, but I think I remember Aunt Musa telling that her mother dropped dead of the heart attack while she was at work.  Ask your Mommy to buy a can of Libby peaches someday and you will know what your great great grandmother helped to produce while working at the canning factory.

So that is the story of your great-great-grandmother who loved reading and cooking and grew up playing “Little Women” with her sisters. Zoey and Sam had a daughter named Thelma, Thelma married Forrest Zimmerman and had a daughter named Dianne.  Dianne married Paul Stevens and had a daughter named Dawne.  Dawne married Jason Pamplin and had --- guess who?  You guys! Sarah, Hannah, Timothy, and now, pretty soon, Rebecca.  I hope you will save this story so you can tell it to Becky some day.

Love, Granny

Marriage Notes for Samuel L. DeMouth and Elzora Maude PIERCE-55

---------ELZORA PIERCE/SAMUEL L. DEMOUTH MARRIAGE The home of Mr. and Mrs. F.O. Pierce, at Pioneer Farm southeast of town (Greenwood, Clark County), was a scene of harmony and festivity Thanksgiving evening, when their daughter Elzora Maude was united in holy wedlock to Samuel L. DeMouth of Christie, Rev. W. E. Kloster pronouncing the marriage vows in the presence of 125 people.At eight o clock the bridal party formed at the head of the stairs and to the sound of appropriate strains from the organ below proceeded downstairs, led by the minister, to the parlor where the party took their position under a floral bell, which was connected with al parts of the room by festoons arranged in tasty order. Here the bride was given away by the father, on whose arm she had been supported. Attending her were the Misses Alma Austin and Lottie DeMouth, as bridesmaids. The groom was attended by Messrs. Clarence Edmonds and Clifford Nutting.After the marriage vows had been solemnized Mr. and Mrs. DeMouth received congratulations until supper was announced, the first table serving the bridal party and their nearest relatives and a few others. To say that it was a bounteous repast would put it in mild terms, for there was everything tempting in the way of viands, that would make even a Thanksgiving turkey envious.The bride was the recipient of a valuable assortment of wedding presents sent by relatives and friends from Loyal, Neillsville, Christie and Greenwood.Mrs. DeMouth was born on the farm on which she was married and has grown to womanhood here, though she has worked in Loyal, Greenwood and Neillsville for the past few years. Her acquaintance is large and all speak most highly of her as a lady and an accomplished housewife.The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob DeMouth of Christie and now owns the farm on which he was born, where they have already set up housekeeping. For five years he served in the regular army, two years of the time being spent in the Philippines, from which he returned about two years ago, upon his discharge from service.That long life and true happiness may attend these new voyagers on the matrimonial bark is the wish of their many friends, the Gleaner included.SOURCE: GREENWOOD GLEANER 01/31/1902

Musa Irene DEMOUTH

Musa Irene DeMouth
1903 - 1979

Dear Children,

Tonight I'm going to tell you about my one and only aunt.  One thing for sure you can say about Aunt Musa, she had a LOT of spirit. That I received a letter from her three days after she died is a fitting testament. She had a wonderful life.

Musa Irene was the first child born to Samuel and Elzora Maud DeMouth in Christie, Wisconsin on the family farm.  While  Elzora (Zoey) had been growing up with her three sisters, they agreed that each of them would give their first daughter the middle name of Irene.  But where on earth did the name "Musa" come from? It was from a book Zoey had read, but which one? I recall something about "The Forty Days of Musa Dagh," but that book didn't come out until the 1930's.  As a small child she accompanied her parents to the west coast where they searched for some golden opportunity they never found. Musa's mother was a tremendous cook and got a job cooking for a logging camp in Oregon.  There was no daycare. Musa, always active and mischievous, had a habit of wandering off which was a dangerous habit for a small child in a logging camp. So Zoey tied Musa to a tree in the yard while she cooked and watched her through the window.

Grandma Zoey shared her  love of books with her children. She read Joan of Arc to Musa when she was quite small. Musa had a favorite doll given to her by her Uncle Don.  One day shortly after the reading of Joan of Arc Zoey looked out the kitchen window to see the doll being burned at the stake by a very intent Musa.

Uncle Don DeMouth was a favorite with Musa. Even in her old age she spoke with great sorrow of his untimely death from mouth cancer.

Sometime between the birth of Musa's sister, Thelma, in 1911, and her brother, Lester, in 1913, the family left Wisconsin to try homesteading in Billings County, North Dakota. Zoey's dad, Frank Pierce, and his family went with them.  Homesteading proved to be a very difficult sort of existence. Shortly before she died, Aunt Musa wrote her recollection of those years on the prairie.

"Our childhood (days) after we left Wisconsin were not happy ones.  They were filled with so many fears when we were living in North Dakota; the fear of prairie fires, of rattlesnakes, and the fear of lack of necessities for living. I doubt if your mother ever told you of the winter we almost starved to death. I know she didn't like to talk about it. She was very young but she remembered it all too vividly. "

In North Dakota Musa continued the antics that had earned her the reputation as a wild child. She was told to stay away from a horse that was kept nearby. So at the first opportunity she got up onto the horse to see what would happen.  Zoey looked out the window just in time to see Musa flying through the air. For the rest of her life she carried a scar on her foot from that event.

Another tale Aunt Musa told about the days in North Dakota was about laundry day. The women would gather outside and boil great kettles of hot water over a fire and add their homemade lye soap. One day several little girls were playing too near the kettle of lye soap and one of them fell in!  She survived but carried the scars the rest of her life. It was Winnie's little daughter, Vera. She was probably two or three years old.

After several years in North Dakota, probably about 1918, because that's when Zoey gave up the job of postmistress of Quinion, the family moved to Ballantine, Montana, where they operated a small hotel, with Zoey once again earning the family's living as hotel cook and manager.  How long they stayed there is uncertain.  Their stay came to an abrupt end one afternoon when the hotel caught on fire.  And where was Musa while the hotel burned? Why up on the roof, yelling "FIRE" for all she was worth.  Somehow she was rescued. No one thought the wild child would live to grow up.  She not only grew up, she outlived everyone else in the family by many many years.

Sometime during the 1920's the family migrated on to Portland, Oregon. Here Musa got a job as domestic help in the home of a dentist.  He had an extensive library and encouraged Musa to borrow and read his books, which she did with relish. He and his wife also encouraged her to continue her education. While living on the prairie, Musa had gone to school only through the 8th grade.  By the time she got to Portland she was a big woman in her early twenties. But with this doctor's encouragement she started out as a freshmen in high school with all the little fourteen year olds. There must have been some difficult moments for her, but she did it.  She graduated from Lincoln High School in 1930 at the age of 26 and then went on to Reed College. There she immensely enjoyed the drama productions and got a degree in economics in June of 1935.

This story about Aunt Musa comes from Helen Moore, a family friend from the Reed days.
"Musa was a fan of the Marx Brothers. She and several friends went daily to see them when the Marx Brothers were at a local theater. At one point in the show, Groucho pretends to be a seal and acts and barks like one. Musa and her friends decided they'd meet in the front row of the balcony and each would bring a fresh fish and throw it to Groucho when he impersonates a seal. Musa arrived with her fish but none of the others showed up. Nothing daunted, she stood up and threw the fish at the appropriate time. It landed with a plop in front of Groucho.  He looked up and said, 'I'm glad I didn't ask for an elephant.'"

I have a very old newspaper clipping telling of Musa's role in a 1936 Portland Civic Theatre production of The Mad Hopes. She is hailed as playing the humorous English dowager.  Musa continued her interest in drama throughout her life by introducing her niece and nephew to live theater, taking in Shakespeare whenever possible, staging skits at the Service Center, and through storytelling. She was marvelous at Tajar Tales, and I'll never forget my two favorite Christmas stories she told, Why the Chimes Rang and The Other Wise Man.

After graduation from Reed College Musa worked for the Travelers Aid for awhile .  Then she began her life-long career with  the YWCA. She served in Pocatello, Idaho, in Salt Lake City, in Billings, Montana, and in Highland Park, Illinois.  In Highland Park her title was Executive Director.  I'm not sure about the other places.  In 1969 she moved to a retirement home in Seattle, Washington, Hilltop House, where she remained very active teaching bridge, giving book reviews, going on trips, sewing doll clothes for the Salvation Army until the very day of her death.

Aunt Musa felt her childhood was one of deprivation. She wrote, "I never was able to enjoy myself until I grew up and left home," and then did she ever make up for lost time!  Enjoy herself, and life, she did!  Whatever was going on, Aunt Musa was apt to be at the center of it.  During her career with the YWCA she led horseback treks for young girls up into the mountains. She taught bridge lessons and square dancing. She gave book reviews and wrote stories. During her early years at the YWCA in Highland Park she ran a servicemen's center that was open every weekend. It catered to the young men stationed at Fort Sheridan Army Base and Great Lakes Naval Base. The center operated in the basement of the local VFW Hall. Local young women served as Junior hostesses and local service organizations served food. The young people played pool, ping pong, and bridge, and danced. Sometimes they square danced. Sometimes they danced to popular tunes played on a record player. Sometimes a live band would play. The old piano in the corner would provide an anchor for the band or a chance for some lonely virtuoso to reengage his musical talents. There were strict rules about what could and could not happen on the premises and "Miss D" as she was called was very strict in enforcing them, but they all loved her.  I believe she kept in touch with some service center alums until the day she died.

Musa was ever a devoted family member, both to her birth family in her younger years, and to her sister's family in later years. In Portland she worked hard at encouraging her younger sister and brother to go to school as she had. The effort paid with Thelma but not with Lester. The thirties were Depression years and times were tough. Whatever Musa had she gladly shared with her family. The story of the evening gown is a famous one in our family. In 1932 Thelma was invited to attend a ball with the dashingly handsome, Forrest Zimmerman.  She thought she could not go because she had nothing to wear.  Musa came through like a fairy godmother spending her last cent to send her sister to the ball. Aunt Musa also bought her the canopy bed. Our mother liked canopy beds and clipped pictures of them out of magazines.  She read me The Secret Garden three times and I swear she liked that book because of the illustration of Mary discovering Collin inside his canopy bed. About a year before Thelma died, Musa managed to get enough cash together to buy her a canopy bed. My how our mother loved it, though she never was able to have a canopy for it.  She died in that bed. Heather has it now.

When my brother and I were small we were delighted when Aunt Musa came to visit which she did once or twice a year whether she could afford it or not.  Would we have fun!  It would be off to Boston to ride the swan boats and feed the squirrels and go to movies. Once she took us to four movies in one day!  We loved it. I remember twice when her enthusiasm for going and seeing and doing almost got us into trouble.  The first time she and I came into New York City and had a lay over before our next plane left for Boston.  Auntie Moo figured if you were a kid with any time at all in New York you had to go to the top of the Empire State building, which was the tallest building in the world at that time. And since she was the biggest kid around we had to go and off we went!  Did we get back in time for the airplane ride to Boston?  No we did not!  We had to go on a very slow train and I'm surprised she was able to pay for it.  Another time we were up in Seattle visiting Cousin Bessie.  Aunt Musa somehow lost track of time and when we should have been getting on the plane to go home we were on our way out to Whidbey Island to visit Winnie's daughter, Jessie. I knew what day it was and where we were supposed to be but I never said a word because by missing the plane we were able to get in on a family outing to Mt. Rainier which turned out to be the high point of the trip.  Auntie Moo was also just as happy we had missed the plane.

When our mother died in 1952 Aunt Musa took us all under her wing.  No matter the difficulties, it was what was needed to be done, and Aunt Musa would take care of her family.  At that point we were all the family she had left. I shared Aunt Musa's bedroom at the YWCA.  Our dad could only find a room to rent at first, so he lived there.  And what to do with 13 year old Jon?  Aunt Musa didn't ask, she went ahead and set him up in the TV room at the Y.  He just had to be sure to stay out when all the little girls were using it to change into their dancing costumes after school.  When the Y board heard about the arrangement they were not pleased.  I could stay but Jon had to go.  Soon Jon and Dad were moved into a tiny apartment a mile down the street.  None of us had a car.  Every evening Auntie Moo and I would traipse down St. John's Ave. bringing supper. I don't know how she did it, doing her job at the Y which called for many weekend and evening hours, and trying to hold this little bedraggled family together, but she did it and at the time we didn't even appreciate that it was difficult for her.

I keep thinking of all the things I learned from Aunt Musa.  I learned to swim, and square dance, and play bridge. I learned to enjoy theater and concerts and to do skits and read books.  The library was next door to the Y and she insisted that I take out books and read them.  She saw to it that I got lessons. When I came to her I was playing the violin so she had me continue even though there was no school program and continuing meant private lessons. What I thought I really wanted to do was play the piano, so when the Servicemen's Center closed down, she saw to it that I got the piano and had lessons.  I still have that piano.  Besides these concrete things there are many ways Aunt Musa impacted my life and made me the person that I am.  One of the biggest ways was in exposing me to all the different kinds of people in the world.  At the Y there was a Golden Circle Club for the elderly.  There was the Frienship Club for women who did domestic work for the wealthy families along the North Shore. Many of these women were of foreign birth.  There was the Dunbar Club made up of mostly Negro people who worked in the area.  Every day was "Take Your Daughter (in this case niece) to Work Day." Whatever Aunt Musa did, I did it too.  I learned to sing all the songs with the old folks;  I learned to do rosemalling with the Friendship Club; I helped to cook and serve for the Dunbar Club.  I learned to play pool with the soldiers and sailors.  I learned that the Y was for everyone without regard to race or creed or color and so I expected the whole world to be.   Because of Musa DeMouth I learned very early to relate to and respect and enjoy many different kinds of people.  

Another gift from Aunt Musa was sharing in her zest for life.  I trully believe Auntie Moo enjoyed everyday of her life, every single one - even the ones in North Dakota. The letter she wrote to me on the day she died says she was going down to play bridge that night.  She did, and that's where she died of a massive heart attack.  I think that's how she would have wanted it.  And I got the letter three days later.

Aunt Musa was our own Auntie Mame.  Perhaps she tried to make it up to us that she was the only relative we had. I bet she would have been the same if we'd had a hundred aunts and uncles. She was my mother's sister, so she was my aunt.  She was a great aunt to your mom, and she would be your great great aunt. She never had her own children to remember her, but she treated us as well as she would have her own.  So I hope you will help remember Auntie Moo, Musa Irene DeMouth.  And some day I will discover where her mother got her strange name.

Love,
Granny

Lester Jacob DEMOUTH

15 March 2004

Dear Sarah, Hannah, Timmy, and Becky

Today I am writing to you about my only uncle and I never even met him.

Lester Jacob DeMouth
18 December 1913 - 24 October 1944

Lester was the third child of Samuel and Elzora Pierce DeMouth joining his two older sisters, Musa, aged 10, and Thelma, aged 2.  He was born on the 18th of December in 1913 in a place called Quinion, Billings County, North Dakota.  It took me a while to find Quinion because it isn't on any map any more. Here's what I found out about Quinion from a very nice lady in North Dakota named Patrice Hartman.

Quinion was located in Billings County 29 miles NNE of Medora. Mrs. Bert Townend was tired of traveling 15 miles to a place called Fairfield every time she wanted to pick up mail or send a letter.  So about 1910 she circulated a petition to have a post office. There was no town where Mrs. Fairfield lived, only a few poor farms and ranches. To have a post office you at least needed a name so she picked Quinion because back in 1885 a man named H.C. Quinion had lived there. He had come from Vermont and built a ranch called the Q-Bar Ranch on Magpie Creek north of a town called Fryburg. He had 600 to 700 horses. Mrs. Townsend was the first post mistress of Quinion and held that position until the building burned down.   Elzora De Mouth, that's Lester's mother, was the post mistress from 1916 'til 1918.  Women could not yet vote in the USA but apparently they could be trusted for an important job like post mistress. 1918 is probably when Lester's family moved to Montana. After that Lester's grandfather, Frank O. Pierce took over as post master of Quinion until 1923. That's probably when he moved on to Oregon.  And at that point the post office closed and Quinion disappeared and anyone who lived there had to go to Fairfield to get their mail.

Now you might think this isn't very important and why am I going on and on about where Lester was born.  It is important because it tells us where this family settled in North Dakota after they left the beautiful green state of Wisconsin.  Ask your mommy to help you find on a map where Quinion was. Now North Dakota may be a fine state in many ways, but it was not and is not beautifully green like Wisconsin.  Many settlers were lured out to the Dakotas with the offer of free land if they put up a house and lived there for a while.  And this is what happened to Lester's family.  Sometime between when Thelma was born in March of 1911 and when Lester was born, the DeMouth family came pioneering in North Dakota.  It wasn't just Sam and his wife and kids either. His father-in-law, Frank Pierce, also came with his wife and children, Winnie and Roy, who were in their 20's and married, and Iner, their adopted son who was a young teenager. I have a picture of the whole gang and also a picture of the DeMouth's home and the Pierce's home.  But until Patrice sent me the information about Quinion, I had no idea where in the large state of North Dakota they lived.

I mentioned that North Dakota is not green. Rainfall varies from year to year from just barely enough to grow a crop to almost nothing. The DeMouths along with many other pioneers had a hard time making a living even with free land.  I wrote a little bit about life on the North Dakota prairie in the story for Lester's sister Thelma. So here, let's just repeat.  Life was very hard.  That's undoubtedly why Lester's mom took the job as post mistress.  It was something she could do to keep her children fed.

I don't remember many stories about Lester as a child but this one.  Lester was very very shy. Out on the prairie they could go months without seeing anyone outside their family.  One day a stranger lady came to call on Lester's mother. Lester could hear them talking in the kitchen. He was terrified.  All of a sudden he came tearing through the kitchen and out the door fast as a streak of lightning.  The only problem was he hadn't taken time to open the door.  He broke through it screen, wood, and everything.

By the year 1920, probably by 1918, the DeMouths had given up on homesteading and moved to a little town in Montana called Ballantine. There they purchased an old building which they turned into a hotel. Lester's mom was the cook.  After a few years the hotel burned down and the family moved on to Portland, Oregon.  The children had gone to school through 8th grade in North Dakota and Montana but they couldn't go to high school because there wasn't one anywhere near them.  Musa and Thelma went to high school after they got to Oregon.  Musa tried and tried to get Lester to go but it was no use.  Lester was busy getting over his shyness and discovering the joys of big city life.  He was into wild living and  drinking.  Aunt Musa always said if Lester hadn't died in the war he would have ended up as an alcoholic bum.  I refuse to believe it, but it gives you an idea what he was like after the family got to Portland.

Lester's mother died suddenly in 1934 and Lester joined the marines the following year. We know a little bit about his years in the marines before World War II from letters he wrote to Thelma.   One letter tells about being aboard the ship that was searching for the downed flier Amelia Earhart. Several letters tell about being stationed in China.  Lester was with a group known as the China Marines, because they went straight from a long stretch of duty in Shanghai, China to the war in the Pacific, instead of getting to go home as they had planned.  You can read Lester's letters by clicking on the notes after his name, up above. Because of the internet I have been fortunate to receive letters from several men who served with Lester and remembered him.  One of them was Arthur W. Jones of Del City, Oklahoma.  This is what he wrote to me, 7 May 2004:
"DeMouth and I made several liberties together in Shanghai.  He was a good Marine and was liked by the Marines. . . .
"We left Shanghai on the same boat to Olongopo, P.I.  Was at Olongopo when we were bombed for the first time.  
"We were ordered to Bataan on the 29th day of December.  We were ordered to Corregidor for beach defense and after landing laid down for a few minutes rest at Middlesides Barracks when Corregidor was bombed for the first time for 3 hrs. and 15 mins.  Wave after wave came over.
"Back in Shanghai we were together on guard duty at an oil company on the Yanztze river for a week with other guard members.
"After Corregidor fell we moved from there to a hell camp in Cabanatum Prison Camp.  We were together there until groups of us were shipped out to work details.  After that I lost contact with DeMouth. . . . Arthur (Art) W. Jones"
J. E. Dupont from Plaquemine, Louisiana, also had guard duty with Lester in Shanghai.  He wrote:
"I do know that he was well liked by the other Marines and that he performed his duty well.  As I recall he was rather quiet and mild mannered."  Mr. Dupont also sent a copy of a newsletter from the Shanghai days with this note about Lester:
"DeMouth heard from two gals in the states the last mail and it was quite comical.  One of the girls (Betty) wanted him to write more because it was hard to love him when she got no word from him, and the other girl (Betty's friend) wrote to assure him that Betty was madly in love with him.  Anyway, they both wished him a speedy return.  Looks as though he may have something there."  Since I first wrote this I have discovered who Betty was.  She was Ruby Elizabeth, called "Bette" Luth,  the daughter of Lester's cousin, Verna Demouth Luth.
And this came from Ms/Sgt Herman E. Smith:
"I was well acquainted with Lester.  We served in the same squad in Shanghai, China for about one year.  Then in November of 1941 we were pulled out of Shanghai to the Philippines on Subic Bay.  We arrived there seven days before the war began.  We were at Olongopo when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  We left Olongopo and went down through Bataan to Marivales across the bay from Corregidor.  On Christmas night 1941 we were taken to Corregidor for beach defense.  When we arrived on Corregidor we were split up and sent to different companies.  I remained with F Co. and Lester was sent to I Co. 3rd Bat.  That was the last time I ever saw him"

 Spain had lost control of the Philippines to the United States in the Spanish American War, so  American troops were in the Philippines guarding the islands and doing routine kinds of things before WWII.  It's interesting to think about the fact that Lester's father, Sam DeMouth, was in the Philippines during the Spanish American War that won control of the Philippines for America, and his son, Lester, was there in World War II when the islands were taken from America.  So Lester and his buddies were there in Corregidor right after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the United States officially joined theWorld War II.  Lester and the other marines did not have very good weapons.  They were left over from World War I and as often as not they didn't work at all.   And they ran out of food.  But they kept fighting and defending the island for months and months with no hope of resupply or rescue.  It was horrible.  Finally on May 7, 1942 they surrendered.   And Lester and all the others were taken prisoner by the Japanese.  The Philippine Islands were no longer an American Territory.  They now belonged to the Imperial Empire of Japan.

Lester lived for two years and 5 months in  Japanese POW camps.  That is where they kept the prisoners of war.  The prisoners were used for slave labor by the Japanese.  They were treated cruelly and fed very poorly.  What they ate was rice, rice with weevils, a little rice, never enough rice.  Ocassionally it was cooked with a kind of tough grass that tasted horrible.  Those who wanted to stay alive forced themselves to eat what little there was and they gradually became living skeletons as they lost weight from lack of food.

In  1944 the Japanese began to transfer prisoners from the various POW camps in the Philippines to POW camps in Japan in what are called the "Hell ships." Here is a description of what happened written by William Bowen, a man I know whose father was with Uncle Lester on board the Arisan Maru.
"A draft of prisoners was assembled at Old Bilibid Prison starting in late September 1944 for transport to Japan to work as forced labor.  Many of the men came from the Cabanatuan Prison Camp. The draft of approximately 1800 boarded the Arisan Maru and departed Manila on October 10, 1944. The ship sailed south to the vicinity of Palawan Island and laid over until 19 October. One reason advanced for the move South and the layover was to avoid US air and naval action.  The Arisan returned to Manila on the 19th, took on supplies on the 20th and left in a convoy around midnight headed for Takao, Formosa. The 6886 ton Arisan Maru was sunk in the Bashi Straits, South China Sea, Latitude 20 o 46' N, Longitude 118 o 18' E, on October 24, 1944 at about 5:00 PM.  Naval records indicate that the USS Shark II (SS 314) attacked a Japanese freighter in the late afternoon of October 24, 1944.  The USS Shark was lost with all 87 hands in that same action and is believed to have torpedoed the Arisan.  The Arisan carried no markings or flag indicating that it was carrying Allied prisoners. It was hit aft of midships causing the ship to split open with the rear section sinking downward into the sea. A torpedo is thought to have hit in number three hold where Japanese troops and civilians were located.  The Japanese quickly evacuated the ship and were picked up by their destroyer escorts. Before leaving the Japanese guards cut rope ladders into the prisoner holds but these were restored by the prisoners and the survivors agree that almost all prisoners were able to get off the ship.  Many scavenged whatever food and water they could before leaving the ship. At first, many prisoners swam toward the Japanese destroyers hoping for rescue.  They were pushed and beaten away with poles.  The men climbed on whatever wreckage they could find to stay afloat for rescue."
I doubt very much if Uncle Lester could even swim.  A few men,  9 of the 1800, did survive and came back from the war to tell their story.  But Uncle Lester's bones rest at the bottom of the South China Sea.

Lester was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, American Defense Service Medal with Base Clasp, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal.  These are in the possession of my brother, Jon Zimmerman.

So this is the story of my Uncle Lester. He was strong and good.  He was a poor boy from the American prairie who became an adult in Oregon during the Great Depression.  He didn't have many opportunities in life so he joined the Marines.  He never would marry and raise a family.  Instead, he suffered unspeakable horrors in the battle of Corregidor, in Japanese prison camps, and in death aboard the Arisan Maru. He died to keep America and the world free from the Japanese empire.  In this he won.  Please never forget your Uncle Lester.  Lester Jacob DeMouth is an American hero.

Love,
Granny

Jacob DEMOUTH

Dear Sarah and Hannah and Timmy,

I want to tell you a story about one of your great-great-great grandfathers.  Do you know how many great-great-great grandfathers you have?  That would be a good math problem for you to figure out.  This one fought in the Civil War just like Christian Wintermantle.  They even fought in a lot of the same battles, but they probably didn’t know each other.  His name was:

Jacob Demouth

October 3, 1835 - September 7, 1905.

Jacob DeMouth was born in Pequannock township, Morris County, New Jersey, just a few miles from New York City. His parents were John DeMouth and Maria Levi. His  DeMouth forefathers had been in this country for five generations.  You can read about where the DeMouths came from in Europe in the story that goes with Jacob Demouth (16xx - 17xx).  Some people think they were French and some think German.  His mother was descended from William Levi, a German Jew, who had been brought over as a Hessian soldier to fight in the American Revolution but deserted to the Americans.  (The story is he put his shoes on backwards and walked through the snow to the American camp.)

Jacob had five brothers and sisters. They were Samuel, Chalon, James, Frances, and Semantha.  Jacob was between James and Frances.  When Jacob  was 13 his family moved from New Jersey to Calumet County near Chilton, Wisconsin.  That was in 1848, the year Wisconsin became a state.  All the land was covered with a thick forest. In order to farm they had to chop down the trees. In 1861 Jacob's father, John DeMouth, was killed when a tree he had been chopping down fell on him.  On August 26, 1861 Jacob married Cordelia Martindale at Gravesville, Wisconsin. They soon had a boy and a girl, Don and Eva.

Jacob became a soldier on February 26, 1864. He enlisted into Company E, 21st  Wisconsin Infantry from New Holstein, Wisconsin.  In May of 1864 Jacob’s Company joined General Sherman and fought in the many very bloody battles in Georgia, including Buzzard Roost Gap, Kenesaw Mountain, MARIETTA, the Seige of Atlanta, the “March to the Sea”, and the Siege of Savannah.  Savannah surrendered on December 21, 1864, and then Jacob’s unit fought several battles in North Carolina.  They continued north to Washington D.C. and were in the Grand Review at the end of the war.

Jacob wrote letters home to his wife, Cordelia.  During the summer of 1983 Heather and I visited my mother's cousin in Butternut who let us copy the three letters that she owned.  They show a lot of  affection for his wife and family back in Wisconsin.  He talks a lot about the country he is in and especially the fruit trees.  I will give you copies of my copies someday.

There were some interesting stories told about Jacob.  His granddaughter, Erma, believed he had psychic powers of some sort.  He reportedly had the ability to fortell the future and interpret dreams.  During the war other soldiers would ask him what their dreams meant.  One told of a dream about a grapevine laden with fruit.  Jacob said that great good news was in store for him.  The next mail brought news that his wife had given birth to a baby boy.  Another soldier dreamt of a black cart filled with black apples and drawn by black horses.  As the cart bounced along, the apples bounced out but the quantity within the cart was not diminished.  Jacob said the dream fortold  a very evil event that was to come and would effect not only the dreamer but all people. Within a week they received news that Lincoln had been shot.

After the war Jacob returned to his career as a  Wisconsin farmer.  Sometime around 1870 he moved his family to Christie, Wisconsin near Loyal in Clark County. There are several mentions of Jacob in local newspapers of the time.  One from 1886 mentions his having jury duty. Another from 1900 says he is going to a reunion in Chicago, probably related to his war service.  Jacob and Cordelia had 11 children but only 5 lived to grow up.  They were Don, Eva, John, Samuel, and Lottie.  Jacob died in 1905 and is buried at Christie with a number of other DeMouths.

You may want to know a little about Jacob's other children.  Here's what I know:

Don Demouth (b.1862) stayed on the family farm.  He never married.  He was my Aunt Musa's favorite uncle.  He died of mouth cancer in 1911.

Eva (b. 1863) married Henry Bealar (or Beelar) when she was 19. Two years later she had a baby girl, Della. Then, less than two years later Eva died. I was told that Cordelia and Jacob raised Della after her mother died, however, the 1900 census shows her living with her cousin Semantha Chase and family. Della grew up and married Willis Armitage. She was the census taker for the 1910 and 1920 censuses in Clark County, Wisconsin, Weston township. Della and Willis were the parents of Lisle Armitage.

John (b. 1868) grew up and joined the army. He married Lillie Barber on 16 Nov. 1892 and a newspaper clipping of the event says he is stationed at Ft. Yates, North Dakota. Another clipping gives him the credentials, JP, and has him marrying a couple, so he must have been a Justice of the Peace. His wife was rather interesting as she was his cousin. Lillie Barber's mother was Frances Demouth, sister to John's father, Jacob Demouth. Lillie had a brother Albert who married Almanza Demouth, a cousin to John's father Jacob Demouth. It seems like maybe folks did not have a lot of choice when it came marrying time. Lillie and John's first child, Cecil Ray, died at the age of two. Then they had two daughters, Almeda in 1900 and Verna in 1904. Then they moved to California where their third daughter, Ruby (called Betty) was born in 1909. The 1910 census shows John in Santa Clara County, California as a fruit farmer. But, John's health was not good and he died of diabetes in 1911,  leaving three small children with what his obituary calls an invalid wife. Somehow all three grew up and married and had children. Verna died in her 50's, but Almeda and Ruby lived into their 90's.  Almeda used to call me every year at Christmas time. She was thrilled that I was interested in family history.  I wish I had asked her a few more questions.

Samuel was my grandfather so he has his own story.

Sharlet (1877) was called Lottie.  She grew up and married Clifford Nutting from Skohegan, Maine.  They farmed in northern Wisconsin all their lives. They had Erma, Robert, Rueben, Emma and Clifford. I met Erma once in 1982. She was living all by herself in a big old farmhouse on the banks of the Flambeau River. She had lived there for 60 years and still mowed the lawn herself. Her living room was done all in red velvet.  Heather and I had come to visit her to get copies of great grandfather Jacob Demouth's civil war letters. In 2005 I met two of Emma's daughters, Joan and Darlene.

Lucinda was born in 1879. She only lived two years.  She is buried at Christie, Wisconsin with her mother and father.

Here's how you're related to Jacob Demouth (b.1835): Jacob and Cordelia had Sam. Samuel grew up and married Elzora Pierce and they had three children.  The middle one was my mother, Thelma De Mouth.  She grew up and married my father, Forrest Zimmerman, and they had my brother and me.  I grew up and married Paul Stevens and had your mother, Dawne Stevens, and three other children.  Dawne grew up and married Jason Pamplin and they had Sarah, Hannah,  Tim and Becky.  So this story is  part of the story of where you guys came from and how you are connected to the Civil War.  Just think,  your great-great-great grandfather fought in a battle where you now live, in Marietta, Georgia.  Ask your Mommy to take you on a field trip to where the battle was fought.  Maybe you can find out more about it.

Lots of Love From,
                                                                                               Granny

Cordelia Elirt MARTINDALE

Obit: Demouth, Cordelia E. (1834 - 1923)
Posted By: Crystal Wendt >Date: Wednesday, 31 March 2004, at 1:43 p.m.
Surnames: Demouth, Nutting, Martindale, Bickles
---------------Source: Neillsville Press (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.) Thursday, 04/05/1923
----------------Demouth, Cordelia E. (29 Aug. 1834 - 23 March 1923)
Mrs. Cordelia Demouth, whose death occurred March 23, 1923, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. C. H. Nutting in Park Falls, was born at Ornell, Vermont, Aug. 29, 1834. Her maiden name was Cordelia E. Martindale. When 11 years of age, she came with her parents to Calumet County, Wisconsin. There she grew to womanhood, and on Sept. 25, 1861, she was married to Jacob Demouth. In 1871 they came to Clark County and started on a new farm near Christie, and there they passed through all the struggles and privations of pioneers. Seventeen years ago Mr. Demouth died. Some years ago Mrs. Demouth went west and had a new pioneer experience of taking a claim and living for a time on the prairies. Recent years she has made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Nutting of Park Falls.
Of the seven children born to Mr and Mrs. Demouth, five preceded the mother in death. She leaves one son Samuel L. Demouth of Ballentine, Montana; one daughter, Lottie, Mrs. C. H. Nutting of Park Falls, 12 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.
She was a member of the M. E. church for many years, a faithful, consistent Christian.
The funeral was held March 27, at Christie, Rev. Bickles of Greenwood officiating.

THE LOYAL TRIBUNE – 17 January 1907
The following of this village and town were present at the installation of the officers of the G.A.R. and W.R.C. at Spencer on last Saturday afternoon: Henry Nichols and wife, C. H. Brown and wife, J. H. Welsh and wife, E. D. Bowman and wife, Jas. Arms and wife, R. Hutchins and wife, Mrs. Romaine, Mrs. Demouth, Mrs.Dr. Sayles, Mrs. Emerson, Miss Emerson, Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. Payter, Mrs. Oliver Mulligan, Hugh Mulligan, Mrs. Albright, and Mrs. Allen. Supper was served at 4 o’clock and all participating say it was as fine as they ever had. They left about five o’clock to return to their homes all speaking about the fine time they had enjoyed.
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THE LOYAL TRIBUNE – 9 January 1908
The Loyal W.R.C. held public installation of officers at the hall January 2nd. There were present the members of W.R.C. and their families and a few of the “Boys in Blue.” At 12 o’clock they all ast down to a dinner of good things such as the ladies of the Corps know how to prepare. At 2 o’clock the following officers were installed, Mrs. Brown, installing officer:
President, Mrs. Henrietta Milligan; Sen. Vice-President, Mrs. Mary Brown; Jun. Vice President, Mrs. C. DeMouth; Chaplin, Mrs. Lillian Kihr; Secretary, Mrs. Julia Prior; Treasurer, Mrs. Eliza Nichols; Conductor, Miss Elsa Emerson; Ast. Conductor, Mrs. Viola Roberts; Guard, Mrs. Mary Visgar; Asst. Guard, Mrs. Jennie Philpott; Patriotic Ins., Mrs. Alma Paynter; Organist, Mrs. Flora Colby; Press Cor., Mrs. Hattie Richardson; Color Bearers, Mrs. Mary Thompson, Mrs. F. Chesterman, Mrs. Anna Greely, Mrs. E. Merrill.
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THE LOYAL TRIBUNE – 9 January 1908
The Loyal W.R.C. held public installation of officers at the hall January 2nd. There were present the members of W.R.C. and their families and a few of the “Boys in Blue.” At 12 o’clock they all ast down to a dinner of good things such as the ladies of the Corps know how to prepare. At 2 o’clock the following officers were installed, Mrs. Brown, installing officer:
President, Mrs. Henrietta Milligan; Sen. Vice-President, Mrs. Mary Brown; Jun. Vice President, Mrs. C. DeMouth; Chaplin, Mrs. Lillian Kihr; Secretary, Mrs. Julia Prior; Treasurer, Mrs. Eliza Nichols; Conductor, Miss Elsa Emerson; Ast. Conductor, Mrs. Viola Roberts; Guard, Mrs. Mary Visgar; Asst. Guard, Mrs. Jennie Philpott; Patriotic Ins., Mrs. Alma Paynter; Organist, Mrs. Flora Colby; Press Cor., Mrs. Hattie Richardson; Color Bearers, Mrs. Mary Thompson, Mrs. F. Chesterman, Mrs. Anna Greely, Mrs. E. Merrill.
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Here is an explanation of the W.R.C. as found through Google on website suvcw.org/wrc.htm:
W.R.C. - The National Woman's Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic , is a patriotic organization whose express purpose is to perpetuate the memory of the Grand Army of the Republic, as we are their auxiliary organized at their request on July 25 and 26, 1883 in Denver, Colorado and incorporated by act of the 87th Congress , September 7, 1962.
Our members cooperate in doing honor to all those who have patriotically served our country in any war. We teach patriotism and duties of citizenship, the true history of our country and the love and honor of our flag. We oppose every tendency or movement that would weaken loyalty to, or make for the destruction or impairment of, our constitutional Union. We sustain the American principles of representative government, equal rights and impartial justice for all.

per 1910 Census - Cordelia is living with her son John in Morgan Hill, CA.

per 1920 census - Cordelia is living with her granddaughter Della Armitage in Weston, Clark Co., WI.

Per daughter Eva's marriage record Cordelia's maiden name is Lawrence.  Could this be her mother's name?

Don A. DEMOUTH

The Clark Republican and Press Date: 8-18-1887
Don Demouth started Monday for Minnesota, to visit relatives, see the country and try a hand at harvesting.

Frank Orlando PIERCE

Per death certificate Frank died of chronic endocarditis.

THE LOYAL TRIBUNE – 10 January 1907
Frank Pierce and son Roy of the town of Eaton and Norman Brown of the town of Loyal left for Rib Lake Monday to take charge of a camp for the John Mathe Lumber Co.

Sarah Jane TODHUNTER

Thia is the way I found her name spelled on the marriage record.

According to the family tradition Sarrah died soon after giving birth to her 4th child.  The baby also died.  However, according to Clark County Cemetery records Sarrah died 20 months after the birth and death of that baby.

Jessie Irene PIERCE

Two dates found for Jessie's death: 22 Dec 1885 and 22 Dec 1895.
per Kathleen Englebretson email of 30 SEP 2004:
"The difference in the two dates comes from the Greenwood Cemetery Index. There
are two entries with two different dates. The index is included in the Clark
county site under AHLN web site. There is actually a third Jesse Pierce dying
in 1901. The index does have a question mark by the entry so it appears they
also have a problem with the dates."

My reply:  "I went back to an old letter I'd received from Cousin Bessie, Mabel's daughter. She talks about how her mother and sisters played Little Women as children and that Jessie took Beth's part and just like Beth, Jessie died as a young teenager.  So the 1895 date must be the correct one."

John DEMOUTH

February 22, 2006
Dear Children,

Tonight I want to tell you about the first Demouth who migrated to Wisconsin.

John Demouth
(1794 - 1861)

Most of what we know about John has come down through his granddaughter, May Sommers. It is written as what I call The Demouth History.  Aunt Musa had a copy of  it which she misplaced in her Bible. She hunted and hunted for it and felt terrible that she had lost it.  When she died my dad and brother went to Seattle to clear out her apartment.  They called me and asked what I wanted.  I said, "No, I don't want anything." And then as an afterthought I said, "I would like to have her old Bible."  When I opened the package out fell the May Sommers' Demouth history going back to Jacob (b. 1763). Here's what May had to say about John Demouth.

"It was in the great mansion Jacob and his wife's children were born nine of them who were: Frederick, Adam, James, John, Thomas, Jacob, Mary, Betsy, and Charlotte. . . . At the age of twenty-four (John)  became acquainted with Mariah Levi.  She had come from Connecticut to New Jersey to keep house for her brother.  At the age of twenty-three she and John Demouth were married (my grandparents).  The wedding was in the year 1818. The first two years of their married life were spent in Connecticut, after which they returned to New Jersey.  John was a farmer.  To this union six children were born: Samuel, Chalon, James, Jacob, Frances and Semantha, my mother the youngest of the family.  John and Mariah raised their family in New Jersey then migrated to Wisconsin in 1848. Semantha was twelve years old when her parents moved to Wisconsin. It was in Wisconsin John Demouth was killed by a tree falling on him that he had just chopped down. "

Isn't it interesting that they came to Wisconsin in the year we gained statehood.

In 1848 Calumet County was a dense wilderness.  At that time railroads and steamboats were hardly heard of and roads through the wilderness were nothing better that Indian trails. The first non-Indian person arrived in the county in 1845, only three years before our John and his family. The following description of Calumet County as first experienced by white settlers comes from  the Wisconsin State Historical Society Website (http://www.wisconsinhistory.org).  It is quoted from "Chilton's History a Frontier Epic" by  Col. Jerome Anthony Watrous as published in the Milwaukee Sentinel on 11 April 1910.
"(Calumet County) was miles and miles of beautiful woodland, hundreds of thousands of stately maples, enough of them cut down and burned in log heaps to bring millions of dollars if they were there to market today: oak, birch, beech, baswood, elm, cedar, hemlock, some pine - not much - and ironwood.  . . . The greatest concert company ever organized could not provide music that could compare . . . (with) daily concerts the birds of those old forests gave us without price or praise.

"In those days the county was one great deer park. There were tens of thousands of them. No one wanted for fresh meat or dried venison. . . They came to cabin doors at night as did bears, panthers, wildcats, and other game.  Between the clearings of Hayton and Gravesville, (That's precisely where John's homestead was.) two miles apart, I have seen droves of deer in which there were hundreds. . . . There is one thing of those days I would not ask to be repeated, and that is the unearthly howling of wolves. Then there were the dancing waters of rivers and brooks so shaded that only now and then a bit of sunshine touched them."

Here are excerpts from another article from the same site.  This one's from The Chilton Times 8 Feb 1930, an article entitled, "A Pioneer Settler."  It was written about a woman whose family pioneered in the same county as John and Mariah and their kids.  Her family came 16 years later than our John's did, but I'm sure their experiences were very similar.

"They bought an 80 acre tract upon which their humble, one room, log cabin was erected, the bare ground serving as a floor, the cracks in the logs, plastered with clay and leaves, the roof was covered with shakes, a sort of shingle split from a straight grained, 4 foot log and laid on like our shingles. The first soil of the pioneers was broken with grub hoes, corn, peas, and a few potatoes constituting the first crop. The corn was ground in a hand mill, the peas were roasted, ground, and used as a coffee, and it had a bitter taste. The cornmeal was made into mush. After more land was cleared a bit of wheat was seeded, the first large crop they had consisting of six bushels of wheat which required two days for threshing. . . .The six bushels of wheat were taken to a grist mill and exchanged for a barrel of flour. . . .(The) father walked to (the closest grist mill in) Green Bay over the winding Indian trail and carried back a sack of flour on his shoulders. . . .Several Indian tribes had their camps along the Lake and the River. They were very friendly to the old settlers and their families, usually came in groups of  5 or 6 and asked for pork and flour.  In exchange they would bring the settlers venison and game and sometimes tanned hides and buckskins. . . . (She) picked berries (and sold them in the closest town) for 6 cents a quart. She also carried butter and eggs to (closest town) the price received being 6 cents per pound for the butter and 8 cents per doz. for the eggs and in those days butter and eggs were considered a luxury. . . . Pigs and cows roamed the woods as there were no fences and often when cows failed to come home they were obliged to search for them finding them after hours, many miles from home. . . .
"Snakes were very numerous as were squirrels and other animals, the squirrels became a regular pest. They would go into the wheat fields and eat off the heads of the wheat. Deer also molested them by feeding upon the grain and the vegetables. One of the children's chores was to shoo away the deer when they came into the grain fields.  After more clearing was done, rail fences were built and sheep kept chiefly for the wool to supply their needs for woolen cloths and mittens, caps, shawls, and stockings. Flax seed was planted for the family linens and homespuns. "

In 1850, after John and his family had been there for two years, there were still only 381 families in the whole of Calumet County.

All of John and Mariah's children came out to Wisconsin.  After John died from the falling tree in 1861, Mariah and her children continued to farm in Calumet County.  Here's what we know about the rest of the family:

Samuel, the eldest, was born in 1820 in Connecticut before John and Mariah returned to New Jersey. Samuel wasn't around for the 1850 census, but in 1860 he was living with his parents and siblings in Charlestown, Calumet County. He was a shoemaker. By the time of the 1870 Census, it looks like he had married and lost his wife because two young girls, Anna A., and Almanza are living with him as well as his mother, Mariah. His daughter Almanza married her cousin, Albert Barber, son of John Demouth's sister Frances.

Chalon was born about 1826 in New Jersey.  He was listed with his parents family in Calumet County, Wisconsin on the 1850 census as "Chilion." I have found no trace of him after that.

James was born about 1830 in New Jersey. He married a girl named Elsey Jane. She appears on the 1860 census living with the John Demouth family, as does their first child, Jenny L. Their other children were Helena, Sherman, Mary, and Nathan. James served in the Union Army in the Civil War, with the 16th Wisconsin Infantry and also with the 42nd. It is interesting that he named his boy born in 1864 Sherman. His brother, Jacob spent time with Sherman's army down in Georgia.  Perhaps James did also.

Frances Elizabeth was born in New Jersey on August 31, 1830. She didn't show up with her parents on the 1850 Census but made up for it in 1860. That year she was on the census with her birth family with the occupation seamstress, and also with her husband, Joseph L. Barber, who also  had moved to Calumet County, Wisconsin from New Jersey. Frances and Joseph had seven children. They were Hannah, Semantha, Theodore, Albert A., Joseph L., Frank W., and Lillian. In addition Samuel's daughter Almanza came to live with them sometime between 1870 and 1880. Two of their children married Demouth cousins.  Albert married Almanza Demouth, and Lillie married John C. Demouth, son of Frances's brother Jacob. After 1880 Frances and Joseph moved to Clark County, Wisconsin. They are both buried there in the Christie Cemetery.

Jacob was our ancestor.  We'll hear more of him later.

Semantha was born 23 December 1836 in New Jersey. She was in Calumet County with her parents in 1850. In November of 1852 she married Bradley Webster.  Together they had eight children as follows: Freeman, Ann, May, Bertha, Weltha, Almeron, Frances, and Charles.  Semantha is the person whose tales inspired her daughter May to write down the family history and we are very glad of that.

Besides these six children several other interesting Demouths appear on the 1860 Census living with John and Mariah. There is Martha Demouth, age 24, a service worker. Then there is Jonas Demouth, age 33, a farmer born in Connecticut.  And finally, Maria Demouth, born in Wisconsin, age 10.  It's possible Martha could be Samuel's wife.  I don't have a clue about Jonas and Maria.

Our ancestor John Demouth raised his family in the comfortable surroundings of his ancestral home.  When the yougest was twelve he transplanted them all to Wisconsin in the same year as statehood was granted. He was a pioneer in Calumet County when it was still covered by virgin forest. With the help of four strong young sons he cleared the land and built a farm. He provided two sons for the Union Army in the Civil War but he did not live to see that, dying tragically as a tree being cut fell on him.  Perhaps the forest was having its revenge. We are very proud of our Wisconsin Pioneer ancestor, John Demouth.

Here's how we are related to John Demouth.   John Demouth married Mariah Levi and they had a son Jacob Demouth. Jacob married Cordelia Martindale and they had a son Samuel Demouth.  Samuel married Elzora Pierce and they had a daughter Thelma DeMouth.  Thelma married Forrest Zimmerman and they had Dianne Zimmerman.  Dianne married Paul Stevens and they had Dawne Stevens. Dawne married Jason Pamplin and they had . . .Sarah, Hannah, Timmy, and Becky. So Hooray for John Demouth!

Love, Granny

John appears to be among one of several related families that moved from Morris Co, NJ to Calumet Co., WI in the 1860's.  Many of these families later moved on to Clark Co.
Hiram Kayhart

Mariah LEVI

"Mariah learned to write on birchbark, by the light of the fireplace. She learned to spin wool on a tall spinning wheel.  Being very young and small, her father had to make her a bench on which she would walk back and forth as she spun."  May Sommers "Demouth Family History"

In 1818 Mariah is reported to have gone from   Connecticut to New Jersey to keep house for her brother. That is where she met her husband, John DeMouth, and in that year, married him.  They spent the first two years of their married life in Connecticut and then returned to New Jersey where they lived until their move to Wisconsin in 1848.  

Three Levi siblings married three DeMouth siblings.
Mariah Levi - John DeMouth
Betsy Levi - Thomas DeMouth
Oliver Levi - Mary DeMouth

Photograph of Mariah Levi taken in Neillsville, WI - personal files of DZStevens.

1870 Census lists occupation as "Keeping House" and indicates she is living with her son Samuel.

Chalon S. DEMOUTH

On 1850 Census name is spelled "Chilion" and middle initial "S"

Mother's obituary spells it Chaleon