CFH First Draft: Mildred Ferguson Ettinger

 This post is part of an ongoing series, sharing the first draft of my Revised Callin Family History. 

Mildred Ferguson is the 45th person in a descendant report beginning with the earliest known ancestor of our Callin family, (1.) James Callin. This descendant report uses the Register Style of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 

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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.

Indiana Ettingers

Mildred Ferguson was born to James and Eliza (Callin) Ferguson in 1837. She was the third of what would be eleven children.

That was the year Martin Van Buren succeeded Andrew Jackson as President of the United States. It was also the year that an 18-year-old Queen Victoria took the throne in England, beginning the 63-year reign that we call the Victorian Era today. Closer to home, Michigan was admitted as the 26th state that January, and the city of Chicago was incorporated.

It is unlikely that baby Mildred knew all of this was happening. Her life would have been that of the pioneer farmer's daughter. She and her two older sisters would have surely been busy with chores and tending the growing number of siblings around the farm. At some point, though, her life was uprooted along with all of those brothers and sisters, as the family moved west to Auburn, Indiana.

In 1850, Mildred would have been 13 years old. That year, Vice President Millard Fillmore was sworn in as President after the death of Zachary Taylor. California was admitted as the 31st state. And the "Compromise of 1850" forestalled a civil war, to the relief of many.

The Ettinger family was a numerous bunch, with many branches throughout the Midwest, including a large number who lived in Richland county, Ohio. The family we are looking at today originated in York county, Pennsylvania and came to Scott township in Sandusky county, Ohio, in 1837.

Daniel Ettinger and his wife, the former Catherine Jacobs, arrived in Ohio in time for the birth of their youngest son, William J Ettinger (1837-1920). Daniel eventually settled in Lexington, and taught school in Troy township. He was considered a very intelligent and communicative teacher, and an above average mathematician.

William would have grown up mainly in Lexington. Some time between 1850 and 1860, he left Ohio for Indiana. He would have turned 18 in 1855; perhaps he knew some of the people who had moved west, as the Ferguson family had done just before 1850. However he got there, and whatever motivated him to go, on 8 March 1860, William Ettinger married Mildred Ferguson in DeKalb county, and they set up a home in Auburn before they moved 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:

• 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 two eldest children did not leave any surviving children of their own, but they led interesting lives. In fact, I found the Indiana newspapers to be very well represented in the Newspapers.com database, which is where I learned a great deal about this family.

In January 1911, Mildred was reportedly very ill, and the family gathered together - but I don't know precisely when Mildred died. Years later, in 1920, William's health also failed, and he died in the home of his daughter, Cassy Faucett, at the age of 83, hailed as one of the oldest citizens of Waterloo. 

     1. John Clark Ettinger worked in Waterloo as a boy, and was a fireman in the grist mill operated by Duncan Bros, at the corner of Van Vleck and Sheridan streets.  He left home and began working as a fireman on the Chicago and Alton railroad, until he became an engineer. About 1917 he developed diabetes, but he lived a careful life and regained his health and was able to run on the railroad until a few weeks before his death in January 1927.

John married Mary Magdalene Schlemm (1870–1936) on 26 February 1890, in Sangamon county, Illinois. John and Mary lived in Springfield, Illinois, and she remained in their home after he died. 

     2. Clara Ettinger grew up in Waterloo, and married in June of 1893, at the age of 21. Her husband was Charles H. Rude, who ran a business in Tecumseh, Michigan, about 100 miles away. The young couple moved to Tecumseh, and two years later, they had a son: Harry Ettinger Rude (1895-1918).

"LIGHNING STRIKES HERE"
The Waterloo Press, 18 Aug 1910

According to newspaper accounts, Charles abandoned his family when Harry was only six weeks old. In 1900, their family still appeared in the U.S. Census, living in Tecumseh; but in 1910, Clara Rude appeared in Grant, De Kalb county, Indiana, with Harry and her widowed uncle: William's older brother, Reuben Ettinger. At that time, she apparently worked as a dressmaker, but later accounts indicate that Clara and Harry had to rely on relatives for their support, with Harry living for a time with Clara's sister and brother-in-law, Cassy and Dexter Faucett. (This may have been related to the 1910 lightning strike that hit the house Clara, Harry, and Reuben were living in!)

Harry was actually born September 30, 1895, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, but there is some question as to when his parents returned to Michigan and when they separated. He grew up in Indiana, for the most part, attending high school in Waterloo. After completing a course in civil engineering at what is now Northwestern University, he was employed as civil engineer on Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. He enlisted on November 5, 1917, in Chicago, and was assigned to the Medical Corps and was sent to training at Ft. Riley, Kansas. He contracted pneumonia and died on January 5, 1918. He was buried in Waterloo.

Clara eventually moved in with her sister's family, and died at the Faucett home in November 1931. After Clara's death, the Faucetts and her brother, William Hurben Ettinger, sued Harry's estate for $2,000 and $1,500, respectively, to compensate for their expenses incurred over the years. Harry's estate was an insurance settlement from the government.

Next week, I'll look at the Faucett family in more detail, show that their home was used for more than hosting funerals, and see how many Ettinger descendants we can fit into one post!