Friday, May 6, 2016

Ettinger Generations

Just to recap:

On 8 March 1860, William Ettinger (1837-1920) married Mildred Ferguson (1837-1911) in DeKalb county, Indiana, and they set up a home in Auburn before moving to Waterloo, where he worked as an undertaker and cabinet maker. Over the following twenty years, the family lived in DeKalb county, and William and Mildred raised eight children; three sons and five daughters. We looked at the two elder children last week:
  • John Clark Ettinger (1860–1927)
  • Clara Ettinger (1862–1931)
  • Flora Ettinger (1866–1941)
  • Lyda Ettinger (1868–1950)
  • Catherine "Cassy" Ettinger (1870–1959)
  • George Daniel Ettinger (1873–1961)
  • William Hurben Ettinger (1879–1933)
The Callin Family History presents them this way:
  • John, married, two children were born.
  • Clara, married, two children, one living -- Rude.
  • Flora, married ---. Neff.
  • Eliza, married --- Eberly, three children
  • Cassy, married ---. Fawcett.
  • George, married, one child.
  • Herbert, unmarried.
As we discussed in the last post, John and his wife did not have any children, and Charles Rude abandoned his wife and young son early on, as opposed to having two children. The CFH also lists "Eliza" as Lyda (or Lida)'s name; the 1870 Census actually appears to list her as Elizabeth, and the then-newborn Cassy as "Lidia," all of which is very confusing. And of course, "Herbert" is not the youngest son's name, despite being listed as such even in one of his obituaries.

But I'll try to set the record straight, and if anyone finds more evidence, please let me know. Most of the below came from the usual Census records, Find a Grave memorials, and an unusually plentiful number of newspaper articles from Newspapers.com!


Flora Ettinger (1866–1941) married James L Neff (1859–1937) on 26 May 1898. They lived in Williams county, Ohio, where James owned a brick factory. They did not have any children, as far as I can tell.

Lyda Ettinger (1868–1950) married Walter R Eberly (1870–1958) on 30 October 1895. They had three children in Indiana, then moved to Tecumseh, Michigan, where Walter ran a foundry in 1900, and owned a steam laundry in 1910. Lyda's brother-in-law, Charles Rude, was involved in a laundry business in Tecumseh, as well, according to his 1900 Census record. It may be that Mr. Rude sold the business to Mr. Eberly before leaving his family for parts unknown. Whatever the case, Walter owned that business at least until 1940.

     1. Cyrille Eberly (1896–1990) married Carl Frederick Wellstead (1897–1978) on 23 August 1923. Carl was from Perrysburg, Wood county, Ohio. He married Cyrille in Hudson, Michigan (in Lenawee county, not far from Tecumseh), and they made their home in Perrysburg. Cyrille was a teacher of home economics, and Carl worked for 21 years at the Rossford plant of the Libbey-Owens Ford Company. He also served for six years as the village clerk of Perrysburg. The couple raised two sons and a daughter, one of whom is still living. (Their surviving son had seven children of his own!)

      a. Frederick Charles Wellstead (1924–1994) married Marjorie June Lafleur (1924–2006) around 1950. Fred enlisted in the U.S. Army on 28 July 1943, when he was 19 years old. Marjorie joined the Cadet Nursing Corps in 1944, and graduated in 1947. The couple raised a son and two daughters, all of whom are still living.

      b. Lydelia Ann Wellstead (1927–1987) married about 1950, and lived with her husband in New York until her death in 1987. Her husband is still living; I do not know whether they had any children.

     2. Ralph Arlington Eberly (1898–1980) married Lucille Margaret (1903–1976) around 1925; I have not found any records to tell me her maiden name. The couple raised a son in Chicago, and as near as I can tell, he is still living. Ralph and Lucille moved to Iowa some time after 1940; they were in Sioux City in 1942 and in Clinton in 1953. After they died, they were buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Hudson, Michigan.

     3. Earl G Eberly (1899–1974) was teaching at the high school in Hudson when he married Thelma O Tripp (1899–1982) on 9 October 1919. They were only married for four years, divorcing in 1923, but they had a daughter, Georgiene. Earl later married Elva S Reece (1900–1986), and ran his own laundry service for 30 years. He and Elva were very active in the community of Hudson.

      a. Georgiene M Eberly (1920–1986) stayed with her mother after Earl and Thelma divorced. Thelma remarried in 1934, when Gene was in her early teens. Gene graduated from the University of Michigan in 1942 with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology, and went on to have a long career as a Medical Technologist at Mercy Hospital in Jackson Michigan. Gene mentored younger med-techs, taking new technicians under her wing and she is fondly remembered today for her kindness.
Gene was a big outdoors person. She loved birds and bird watching. She loved hiking and boating and had been all over the place doing these things. She took care of her step-father when he became ill and after his passing, she was extremely close with her mom.

Catherine "Cassy" Ettinger (1872–1959) was the youngest of the five Ettinger daughters. She married Alphonso Dexter Fausett (1870–1935) on August 6, 1911.

Dexter had been married in 1896 to a lady named Alice Shultz, who died in June 1909. They had a son who died in infancy and a daughter, Irma, who would later marry O.V. Winks, of Liberty, Indiana. A few years after Cassie and Dexter were married, they adopted a son, Robert.

     1. Robert K Fausett (1916–1995) was born June 18, 1916, in Naperville, Illinois, and grew up in Waterloo, De Kalb county, Indiana. He married Nina V. Wilkins (1916–2009) on June 4, 1938. In 1947, they moved to Indianapolis where Robert was employed as draftsman by Spreuer and Son of LaGrange. They had one daughter in the 1950s, who is still living.

George Daniel Ettinger (1873–1961) married Almeda J Frederick (1878–1962) in August of 1895. He worked at the old McIntyre Buggy factory in Auburn for many years. They had one daughter, and joined the Jehovah's Witnesses in the 1910s. They remained members of that church for the rest of their long lives.

     1. Mildred L Ettinger (1896–1973) married Paul Harold Cosper (1894–1988) on 21 May 1919. They lived in Auburn, not far from Mildred's parents. When George's health began to fail, Mildred filed for guardianship of his estate. It does not appear that the Cospers left any children behind.

William Hurben Ettinger (1879–1933) was born 23 November in Waterloo, and from his graduation in 1898 from the Chicago Embalming school, he was a funeral director there. He married a popular school teacher named Bertha B Bemenderfer (1881–1975) on 2 June 1912.

They were a well known and well liked couple in Waterloo, and he was also serving as the town marshal at the time; so their wedding was considered quite the event. And on that occasion, it would seem the town expressed their affection for their marshal in a most unusual manner:

 Sometimes the man who loves a joke is required to accept what is coming to him, which was the case of town marshal, W.H. Ettinger, Monday night.
 His marriage took place Sunday evening and Monday evening the Progressive Literary club arranged for a reception on the newly wedded at their home on Marion street.
 About the time the guests began to arrive word came to the marshal that the night watch had arrested an unruly fellow and needed help. Faithful to his duties, he rushed to the engine house to give assistance and he found, as his joking friends thrust him into a cell by main force and locked the door, that the unruly prisoner was the marshal himself.
 At first he did not appreciate the joke and how could he? His friends were notified and many came marching to the cell door viewing the "culprit" and enjoying his discomfort no doubt, for over two hours when he was released and allowed to go to his happy home where he and his wife were given an old fashioned noisy belling.
 During his "incarceration" the members of the P.L.C. having concluded their reception at the Ettinger home, marched in a body to the engine house where they filed into the cell and extended their sympathy to the marshal. During the long two hours the crowd told the marshal about the good things to eat in waiting at his home, and one of the crowd played Home Sweet Home on a squeaky old fiddle.

And with that, we conclude our visit with the Ettinger family. There seem to be a lot of Eberly grand-children and great-grandchildren for us to reach out to and get to know, but that will have to wait for another day.

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