Never Cry Witch: Our Family in Salem

I wasn't sure how many of you out there realized that we had ancestors living in Salem during the Salem Witch trials of 1692. We just have so many early colonials on our tree that it was bound to happen. Grandma Pearl Drake Haynes had multiple ancestors in the Massachusetts, some right in Salem. Ephraim Kempton and his wife Patience Faunce were possibly there, but I'm not positive because they had moved to Plymouth sometime between 1674 and 1707. However, the Ebenezer and Hannah Dodge Woodbury family was definitely there for all the action. Here is the trace up the tree: (Me-->Dad-->Grandpa Haynes-->Pearl Drake-->Mary Jane Cheney-->Lucy Elzada Hardy-->Zachariah Hardy-->Elizabeth Thorndike-->Robert Thorndike-->Elizabeth Woodberry-->Ebenezer Woodbury.) Phew! That's ten generations ago! So, anyway, I've checked the list of the 19 that were hung and a few more that were killed, and there weren't any of these last names among them. So, I guess our family tree is witch free! The bad news is, there were dozens in the jails and hundreds that were accused in the town, so who was doing all the accusing? I don't know but I hope it wasn't them!

There were some pretty wild goings on, so I'm sure no matter the level of our ancestors' involvement, I'm sure they were familiar with the key players and had an opinion of what was just and right. Wouldn't it be interesting to know?

Short Surprise: Charles Aaron Samuel Heagy

Grandpa Heagy wrote me up a wonderful bunch of pages about his family and I am excited to share that with you (one bite at a time...). I also have questions about the stories now that I have read them, so Grandpa isn't off the hook as he might think. Here is a little bit about his Dad.

(Me-->Mom-->Grandpa Heagy-->Charles Aaron Samuel Heagy)

"My Father, Charles Aaron Samuel Heagy, was the fourth child of eight to Chalres Aaron Heagy and Martha Justine Cooper. CASH, his initials, was born 17 March 1895 [St. Patrick's Day] at Bureau Junction, Bureau, Ill., and died 5 March 1985. His family homesteaded in the Circle-Glendive, Montana area. While there, he mentioned how he enjoyed being a sheep herder. You couldn't call him a shepherd because of the great number of sheep each sheep herder tended. As I remember, it was the custom to have one black sheep for every one hundred white. The sheep herder could count the blacks to determine if all were accounted for. The sheep industry was a big thing before synthetic materials.

Charlie served under the Office of the Quartermaster as a cook during the First World War. At the age of 22 and 5 feet 5 1/2 inches tall he was inducted, September 18 1917, at Glendive Montana, and discarched 6 Feb 1919. he attained the rank of Sargent First Class, training at Camp Lewis, Washington. He then served the remainder of his time at Camp Bowie Texas. While in the service he had a good friend with either his given or family name of Ebert, and you know the rest of the story as far as my name is concerned.
I believe, but am not positive that after his discharge, Dad returned to the Glendive area to work his own or his dad's homestead."

Charlie Heagy

More later from this history. I was so surprised to learn that Great Grandpa Heagy was very short! We went to see him in the nursing home when we were little, but he was probably sitting down, so I didn't notice that my mom is at least five inches taller than he was! I also pulled out the map and saw how far away Glendive is, clear to the East side of the state. I wonder what made him want to come to Great Falls....maybe because that is where his wife Cleora's family was? He married her in Fort Benton.
Here is another fun quest if anyone is interested.  Wouldn't it be cool to check the military records of Charlie's group and find what Ebert our Grandpa is named for, and where his family is now?

Bump in the Road: Eunice Rosella Teeples

This month is the 50th anniversary of Eunice Rosella's death, so I thought I'd choose her next. I don't yet have any pictures of her, and very few stories, so I guess Grandma Heagy gets to be quizzed next. This is her maternal grandma. I particularly want to find a nice picture because then I can add a generation on my maternal line picture frame with all the women in the line at about the same age, around our wedding days. This story comes from Eunice's mother's personal history. Her name was Harriet Betsy Cook.

(Me-->Mom-->Beverly Ely-->LaRue McCann-->Eunice Rosella Teeples)

Harriet and her husband, William Randolph Teeples, were asked to settle in the Gila River area of Arizona. This is where Eunice was born. William Randolph Teeples died before they had been there long, and Harriet decided to go back to the Bear Lake area where the rest of her family was. In a wagon, with her children, by herself. Luckily, a young man, a neighbor, offered to help her travel when he heard the plan. Most of the history I have of her is about this wild trip they went on. Here is an excerpt.

"We started on the next day and while traveling along a side hill the upper front wheel of the wagon struck a large rock and the lower wheel dropped into a hole. It gave such a sudden jolt that it threw my three year old baby girl Eunice out over the front wheel into a sharp rock, and my fourteen year old boy was thrown over her, onto the ground. It did not hurt the boy, but the baby girl lay so still and white. I stopped the team and jumped out. Her brother had lifted her and ran to me with her in his arms. Her face was covered with blood and her head dropped down. I took her in my arms and ran to a little stream where I bathed her face in cold water. The fall had cut a large gash in her cheek through which I could see her teeth. She was some time coming to herself. This had all come so suddenly and I was so excited trying to bring her out of danger that I had hardly realized what had happened. When she opened her eyes and looked at me and began to moan, I began to shake and tremble and became so weak that I fairly tottered up and laid her on the bedding in the wagon. I then fell upon my knees and thanked the Lord with all my sould for sparing her life. She could not raise her head again that day but was much better the next morning."

This story makes me think of something I read this morning, Mosiah 9:17, "For we were awakened to a remembrance of the deliverance of our fathers." One thing I hope this collection of stories will do is to remind us how much the Lord loves us and has blessed our family and will continue to bless us.

Eunice Rosella Teeples McCann, wedding picture

John Schlomer comments

When I talked to Mom about my John Schlomer post she mentioned a few more things. I told her that Grandpa Heagy had told me the story over the phone and I had difficulty understanding him because his voice is so gravely and low and my phone just doesn't pick that up well. She laughed and said part of the problem is that whenever he tells Grandpa Schlomer stories he uses his EXTRA gruff voice because that is exactly how Grandpa Schlomer sounded--this is one of her memories of him from when she was a little girl. I forgot to ask if he still had an accent when she knew him, but now we know what he sounded like!
Mom also sent me some great photos of Grandpa John Schlomer. Here is her commentary:

Hi, One year, Lori, Bev, Ebert, Cleora, & Charlie loaded up in Bev & Ebert's little black VW Bug and went to the coast. One of the places we went to was Coos Bay Oregon to visit Lori's Great Grandpa John Schlomer. Attached are 4 pictures.

Grandma Cleora Heagy is in the black hair. Great Grandpa Schlomer is bald. I guess the woman he is holding hands with is his second wife. You will have to ask Grandpa Heagy about that.

My favorite is the one where Great Grandpa and I are holding hands and standing by the cars.

Enjoy. 0x0x0 Mom

The Kaiser's Request: John Schlomer

I really don't know very much about the Heagy side of the family, so I'm looking forward to learning more about them. I talked to Grandpa for a while the other day and he told me a little bit about his Grandpa, John Schlomer.

John Schlomer was a brewer (of beer) in Germany who immigrated to the United States. I need to find out if we have his immigration info, but I see that his daughter Cleora was born in Pennsylvania in 1908, so it must have been before that. Anyway, when World War I broke out, John Schlomer got a surprising letter. It was an official request from the Kaiser that he return to Germany and serve his native country in the army. John would have been around 35 and had already been in the US for a number of years. At this point in the story Grandma asked, "Did he write them back?" Grandpa laughed and said, "No. He just said, 'Go to hell.'" Now that's a proud American!

I'm certainly glad he didn't go. Grandpa Harry Van De Riet was already fighting on the American side, but that's another story. As far as I know, none of my ancestors have fought each other in the modern wars.

The Kaiser recruits John

(Me-->Mom-->Grandpa Heagy-->Cleora Elizabeth Schlomer-->John Schlomer)

After I got off the phone, I was wondering about what it would have been like to be German American around that time. I know that there was some prejudice, but I need to ask Grandpa if he knows if John Schlomer took any Anti-German persecution. Even if he didn't, I'm sure he was aware of the worst cases around him. I did a little research, and found this article about being German in America during WWI, courtesy of Wikipedia.

"During World War I, German Americans, especially those born abroad, were sometimes accused of being too sympathetic to the German Empire. Teddy Roosevelt denounced "hyphenated Americanism" and insisted that dual loyalties were impossible in wartime. A small minority came out for Germany, including H. L. Mencken, who believed the German democratic system was superior to American democracy."

World War I war bond posters depicted Germans in ways similar to modern hate-group caricatures.

Several thousand vocal opponents of the war were imprisoned. Thousands were forced to buy war bonds to show their loyalty. The Red Cross barred individuals with German last names from joining in fear of sabotage. One man was hanged in Illinois, apparently for no other reason than that he was of German descent. The killers were found not guilty of the crime and the hanging was called an act of patriotism by a jury. A Minnesota minister was tarred and feathered when he was overheard praying in German with a dying woman.  Some Germans during this time "Americanized" their names (e.g. Schmidt to Smith, Müller to Miller) and limited their use of the German language in public places. Newspapers also printed blacklists of names of Germans, including their addresses, headlined as German Enemy Aliens.

In Chicago Frederick Stock temporarily stepped down as conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra until he finalized his naturalization papers. Orchestras replaced music by Wagner with Berlioz on programs. In Cincinnati,  reaction to anti-German sentiment during World War I caused the public library of Cincinnati to withdraw all German books from its shelves. German-named streets were renamed. For example, in Indianapolis,, Germania Avenue was renamed Pershing Avenue — for a World War I general of German descent. In Iowa, the 1918 Babel Proclamation made speaking foreign languages in public illegal. Nebraska banned instruction in any language except English, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ban illegal in 1923 (Meyer vs. Nebraska)."