Author: Ed Guenther, Consultant Ron Guenther
Research: Don Guenther

Part I: Leeds, England, 1766
Thomas Stead(1741- 1784)> Robert Stead(1769-1827) > John B. Stead(1793-1867)> William Stead(1833-1902)> Alice Stead(1871-1925)> John E. Guenther(1912-1991)

Ancestral Tree by Donald S. Guenther

Thomas Stead(1741-1784)

Thomas Stead (1741- 1784), son of Thomas Stead(1707- 1763) and Jane Rippon, married Mary Wilson(1745 – 1820) in 1766 and they had 9 children. They were Presbyterian in Leeds, England. 

The four oldest were all baptized in Mill Hill Chapel where Joseph Priestly was minister from 1767- 1773. Robert, born in 1769, was baptized by Priestly as his baptismal certificate shows. 

Joseph Priestly

Joseph Priestley  was an 18th-century English theologian, dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and liberal political theorist who published over 150 works. He is usually credited with the discovery of oxygen, having isolated it in its gaseous state; some say Scheele, a Swede, was the first. 

The controversial nature of Priestley’s publications combined with his outspoken support of the French Revolution aroused public and governmental suspicion; he was eventually forced to flee, in 1791, first to London, and then to the United States, after his home and church were burned down. He spent the last ten years of his life living in America. There wasn’t much in the way of religious freedom in England in the 18th century. You conformed or you got out. Many got out and came to America. Priestly is considered one of the foremost American scientists of that time. It is supposed that the Steads faced similar persecutions. 

The Mill Unitarian Chapel

Thomas and Mary attended The Mill Hill Unitarian Chapel, formally established in 1672 when penal laws against nonconformist churches were suspended. 

These people were stepping out of the traditional churches of the day and trying to the best of their ability to find God. Services were excruciatingly long for the children, and it is suspected long  for everybody else, but long services were an expectation of the day. If it wasn’t long, say a couple of hours or more, it was a reflection that the preacher wasn’t worth his salt and didn’t know enough to keep it up for the required duration.

Living Conditions, 19th Century England

The family home was most likely a small cottage of one room with an attached shed for the horse and cow. There was no running water and no sewer.

A bucket in a corner would be emptied into the backyard daily and used for fertilizer. In good times, there would be a pig in the sty. When the pig was butchered and bacon made and hung, if a fire threatened the home, they made sure they saved the bacon. Bacon was a great luxury. Thus the saying, “Save the bacon!” Water was carried from a community well. The house was lit with torches made of rushes stripped and dipped in grease. 

Smoke and cooking smells filled the air. The rush lights gave off little light, were smoky and smelled bad, but to the Steads it was wonderful light. The fire also gave off light and was used for cooking, with a kettle hanging over the coals. 

Epidemics of diarrhea, typhoid and cholera occurred frequently in these unsanitary conditions. Sanitation hadn’t been discovered as yet and when populations became great, so the diseases spread.

Thomas Stead, Clothier

Thomas was a clothier, either producing clothing or marketing or both. Many women of the day took jobs in the sewing rooms to help make ends meet for their families. The working woman is not a new thing. These sewing jobs were tedious and grueling hours with very low pay. It was a hard life. The cloth was made from looms or spinning wheels. Raw materials were shipped in from around the world, much of it being German wool. Making cloth from wool was processed in the following fashion: buy the wool, card it, wash it, dry it.  The yarn is then woven into cloth. A family could do all that at home. Nothing to it. They were making superfine broadcloth.

The advent of the industrial revolution brought many changes to clothiers, but not until the 19th century. Machines. Steam power. And finally electricity. By 1850 the little guy was being squeezed out. But during Thomas’s day, the small businesses were kept afloat, maybe not flourishing, but surviving. The hours were long and demanding. If Thomas was fortunate, he may have employed a few people.

American Revolution, 1776

Thomas observed from afar the American Revolutionary War of 1776.  Robert was 7 years old at this time. Times were changing and the upstart Americans were not content with corrupt English rule. America had become a melting pot of Europe, attracting people not only from England, but Germany, Ireland, and many other places. No, Americans did not wish to continue under English rule. England had mistreated its American subjects. Even some of the people living in England were not content with the way things were going. Perhaps Robert grew up with a sympathetic view of the Americans. Certainly, the Steads would play a part in the development of the new country. America offered a place for a grassroots type of guy to get a start and keep progress moving forward.

Land of Liberty

Patrick Henry was quoted as saying, “Give me Liberty or give me death.” Who did these upstart Americans think they were? They would be taught a lesson. Nobody could stand against the English! The English did not fully comprehend the magnitude of their undertaking to control a rebellious colony at such a great distance! On top of that, some of the Americans were those troublesome Irish, fighters all.

Robert’s Brother James at the Death of Thomas

Robert’s brother James was 17 years old when their father Thomas died on March 18,1784, in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Thomas must have felt responsible for the family and most likely went to work for one of his father’s friends to help his mother. James is not mentioned as inheriting the business. In fact, other than mentioning that Thomas was a clothier there is no mention of a business. James stayed right there and worked as a woolen cloth weaver until his late 70s or early 80s. It appears that he did not keep the business going and small time clothiers slowly dissolved as the industrial revolution gained momentum through the 19th century. Many sons and daughters have worked to help support the family when the father becomes disabled or dies. This is what families do. This was expected.

Robert Stead(1769-1827)

Robert Stead(1769-1827) was the second born of Thomas Stead and Mary Wildon. The oldest was James, his brother. Thomas and Mary had nine children altogether.

Robert’s Sister Mary(1778- 1862)

Mary Stead married Richard Hitchcock and they had two children, including a son James who became a doctor. Mary came to America and died in 1862 as the Civil War raged. She died in Philadelphia, part of the North. 

Robert’s 3 brothers and a sister all came to America. There was Thomas, Benjamin, Joseph, and sister Mary.

Robert Marries Alice Braithwaite, 1790

Robert married Alice Bruithwaite (1772 – 1826) on May 24, 1790, in South Stanley, York, England. They had six children. In 1821 they crossed the Atlantic to America. He was practically an old man at 52 and he pulled up stakes. Old man for that time. He was still operating. Retirement? In those days? You can be sure he was thinking of future generations, future opportunities for them. He had brothers who were already established in Detroit and this is where he went. His wife and 5 younger children came with him, but his oldest son John, did not. John was born in 1793. He was married and later his son William would travel the Atlantic in search of a dream. They all dreamed. We all dream. Dreams are the stuff life is made of. No one should be denied the adventure of dreaming. Dreams are not a guarantee, but a hope. It may not matter if they come true or not, they sustain. A dream is always true.

24 May 1790 • South Stainley,York,England

 Google Map edited by Donald S. Guenther

Crossing the Atlantic

They crossed the Atlantic on the sailing vessel ‘Radius’. The trip took about 60 days. 60 days enduring the perils of the Atlantic. This was no luxury cruise. Nobody ever forgot the trip across the great waters. The seasickness seemed eternal. The stench on the boat was way worse than London streets where open sewage ran. They arrived in New York, no doubt with a letter of recommendation from Robert’s brothers who were in Detroit. These letters were common as a buzzword for immigration. A person needed a place to go so they wouldn’t be a burden on the system.

The Revolutionary War was a thing of the past. Englishmen were coming to America. Let the politicians fight wars. The Steads had a life to live.

By Steamer

From New York, Robert and family made their way to Buffalo, New York and there embarked on the famous historic steamboat, “Red Jacket”, under Captain Brandon Gillett on Lake Erie. 

By Canoe

From Malden, Ontario, they made their way on foot toward Detroit, at one point crossing a river by dugout canoe, a hollowed out log! This Robert did with trepidation, fearing for the safety of his family. They had come to America all right, experiencing the wonders and challenges and hardships of the wilderness. It was a fearsome thing, coming to the wilds of America!

The Detroit histories record Robert as a man of “robust physique and fine presence”. He weighed over 200 pounds, hefty for the day. He helped erect the first city hall in Detroit. Robert and two of his brothers are cited for the “development and up building of Michigan”. The Stead family is recorded as being an influential family in business and politics. These people were solid citizens of the red, white, and blue. In England, the grass roots clothier business was frittering away, but that was his father’s business. Robert saw a future in farming. In America anything was possible. A person could pick up a new trade and start over. Robert wanted opportunities for his progeny.  

Lake St. Clair

He purchased a wild tract of land, 96 acres, on Lake St. Clair on the edge of a disappearing wilderness. The district is known as Grosse Pointe, where he established his dream home and lived out his life, pursuing agriculture. Grampa Robert left this world one year after his dear wife Alice, who died in 1826. Together they had braved the Atlantic Crossing and carved out a new life. What was life without Alice?

Robert and Alice came. They conquered. They lived.

Robert and Alice sent letters back to son John in England. John’s son William grew up on these letters. Letters about a new land. No King in America, but a new thing known as a democracy.

Death of Robert and Alice, 1826 and 1827

Robert and Alice made it to America, but five years later, Alice died in Detroit, Michigan on October 10 of 1826. Robert followed less than  three months later, dying on January 7, 1827. Their oldest son was John Stead(1793- 1867), born in Woodhouse Carr, Yorkshire, England, on May 13, 1793.

John Stead(1793-1867) 

John Stead married Elizabeth Badcock(1797-1834) in 1842. John and Elizabeth played it safe and stayed in England. John ended up marrying three times with a total of nine children. William was born in 1933, the fourth child from Elizabeth.  She died about a year after his birth. William was raised by step mothers, and letters from his grandparents in America.

Childbirth up into the late 19th century was high risk. Many women and babies died. Delivering women were packed into large rooms and doctors would attend one and go directly to the next without washing, let alone sterilizing. Physician assisted births were disastrous! Even with maternity wards, doctors had no concept of germ theory or bacterial infection. In the 1790’s Alexander Gordon asserted that diseases were spread from one patient to another, but it wasn’t until 1842 that Thomas Watson recommended that doctors and birth attendants wash their hands and use chlorine between patients. Too late to do Elizabeth any good.

Elizabeth was only 37 years old when she died in 1834, most likely from complications from William’s birth. Is it any wonder?

William Stead(1833- 1902)

William Stead(1833-1902) was born in Cambridge, England, in 1833. He grew up with stories coming back from America from his grandparents and cousins and uncles. Detroit was a going place. Lots of stories from family about the vast possibilities in the new land. 

William to America, 1851

William immigrated to America in 1851 at age 18. His brother John was already in Detroit and William crossed the Atlantic and started there. With family to stand behind him, William had a plan.  He was in Detroit for 8 years, 1851-1859. At 18 he most likely worked for someone making bricks and learned the trade. The first brick building in Detroit was built by shop owner Thomas Palmer.

William Goes Further West, 1859

The western frontier was out there, a new horizon for the moving Stead clan. William was an adventurer. Detroit was becoming a city. There was an opportunity in Waterloo. Bricks.  The romance of the frontier. In 1859 William went further west, at least some of the trip by coach, and crossed the Mississippi River. Perhaps he hitched a ride on Samuel Clemens'(Mark Twain,1835-1910) steamboat on the Mississippi. Twain captained a vessel there at that time where he learned all about the river, the location for the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

Waterloo, Iowa, 1859

Just west of the Mississippi and just east of the Missouri River, Waterloo, Iowa, was originally known as Prairie Rapids Crossing. They got their first newspaper in 1845 and a post office in 1854 when the name Waterloo was selected. When William came to Waterloo in 1859, this was on the western frontier, a part of the developing West. Anything west of here was Pony Express country, which ran from 1859-1861, a forerunner of the great transcontinental railroad.  Wide open opportunities attracted many to the western edge. The frontier was being pushed back. William was pushing it.

William Marries Matilda Duke, 1861

In Iowa, William married Matilda Duke(1843-1907) in 1861 in Cedar Falls. Matilda was the daughter of George Duke and Hannah Jackson. The Dukes were a long line of good stalk, their family was Methodist. Tillie’s family having deep roots in America. They fought in the American Revolutionary War where Matilda’s Grandfather Francis Duke was killed at Fort Henry, Wheeling in  Virginia and scalped by Sagius Indians. Tragic and glorious for a fighting people. Matilda, being a woman, was not allowed to vote, but William could, and it is wondered if he voted for Abraham Lincoln in that year of 1861. The Civil War was brewing. With all the unrest in America, Waterloo was a good out of the way place to be. And yet, it was a hub for western movement.

 Frank, George, Matilda, Alice, William, Archie; Atlas of Black Hawk County, p. 182

It was in Waterloo where William made his mark. He and Tillie purchased a farm on the eastern side of Iowa, in Waterloo. This was a country of hardwood forests, which provided firewood for the cold winters. There was always the endless job of chopping firewood. They were on the edge of the forests just to the east of the Great American Prairie. Let a future generation tackle the prairie. William and Tillie would stop in Waterloo. Wolves still came around. Indians had been pressed out, always out. The Indian lifestyle required too much wide open land, incompatible with the weatern civilization movement of the time. Hundreds of years of Indian ways wiped out in a matter of decades.

Louisiana Purchase Included Iowa

Iowa was part of the Louisiana purchase of 1803, having been surveyed by Lewis and Clark. In 1803 it was exclusively occupied by Indians. There were the Sauk (Sac) and Meskwaki (Fox) on the eastern edge of Iowa along the Mississippi River; the Ioway along the bank of the Des Moines River; the Oto and Omaha along the Missouri River, and the Sioux in the Northern and Western parts of the State, and the Illinois. By 1830 pioneers started working their way in and Iowa became a state in 1846. By 1860, there were only a few tame Indians left. Make no mistake about it, these American Indians were a warring people. They warred to get their land and they warred to lose it. They understood no other way. American settlers saw the land and took it. They could not understand the Indian way of living off the wild land. The Indians could not understand the white man’s way. Neither wanted what the other had and yet they could not co-exist. The land would not allow it. The settler’s roots were in domesticated farming and industry. The two cultures could not live side by side. The stronger pressed out the weaker. It has always been so. It is the natural way of things. Maybe not the best, but it is the way.

It was the age of the American pioneer. The age of the American wilderness was passing. Each age passes, only a memory, but the blood is passed on through all the ages. William and Tillie were of the pioneer age. They would live to see the beginnings of the modern age.

Waterloo and the Brick Factory, 1870

It looks like William had a brick factory in Waterloo from about 1860. By 1870 William had a brick factory on his property. He had found property in the northwest quarter section 21 which had an extensive clay deposit. He was capable of producing great quantities of bricks to fill large orders in a timely fashion. They produced brick, drain tile, and hollow building blocks. The railroad, established in Waterloo around 1880, was not there to deliver coal, so William would have used vast quantities of super dried wood for wood fires. Likely, he switched to coal when the railroad came, which he bought by the multi-ton. Coal was readily available and it was cheap. He could also ship bricks on the rail cars. The railroad was like the I-5 corridor of their day. 

They used downdraft kilns and employed the stiff mud process. The clay would not be liquid, but ‘stiff”. It would be pressed into the mold for the shape and then plopped out onto the drying racks.The machine was a Freeze and Eagle press. They could produce up to 20,000 bricks a day and had a ready market. William had found his niche. The business is listed as the Stead Brothers with William’s brother Charles being his partner. Later it was renamed Wm. Stead and Sons. Running their own business was nothing new in the Stead family. It was a way of life for them.

Many tried to scratch out a living and make their mark in an unforgiving and wild country. Death from a hundred sources stalked the frontier, sometimes a man just didn’t come home, never to be heard from again, his body being claimed by the wilderness. 

Making Bricks

‘Tossers’ would toss the bricks off the portable track to the ‘Setters’ who would place them in the kiln, careful to keep them from touching so that they had proper air flow. The air draft was designed to carry the heat in an up and over and down fashion to evenly distribute the heat. The heat of these kilns in the summer was intense. To fire them was almost unbearable work. The fumes from the maturing bricks were toxic. Who worried about toxins in those days? Many people of this day died before age 50, wondering what caused it. The downdraft kilns of this time were fueled by first wood and then coal. The coal shovel-er, known as the fireman, would shovel coal into the firing box to keep the kiln temperatures rising. There is a story out there of a man who was so anxious to impress the boss that he shoveled furiously for hours and the kiln got so hot that it made one huge solid brick, as they all melted together! Ed Guenther(1953-  ) has seen this happen in a modern day pottery kiln firing pots. It can happen all right, and likely did in the Stead business. The fireman would keep an eye on the small finger like cones through a peephole, the cones standing inside the kiln, which would melt and tip over at the desired temperature. Watch and shovel. Watch and shovel. No water bottles in those days, just the dipper and the bucket for the fireman. A typical fire might take ten to twelve hours to reach a temperature of about 2400 degrees, lower for some types of bricks, and at least 24 hours to cool.

After cooling the kiln, the portable racks for moving the bricks were placed on portable racks and moved unloading the kiln.  The melting silica and feldspar in the clay fused, turning these bricks into stone. Brick making is one the oldest methods of construction known to man. 

William was a good businessman. He would have studied out every phase of brick making, from firing techniques to shaping and handling, proper mixes for the order of brick, kiln design, and finally for marketing the product. This was no lazy man’s business. 

Laying bricks and having connections to the business was Samuel E. Guenther, later to marry Alice Stead.

William’s Death, 1902

“Brick Magazine” of the time carried an obituary for William when he died. His bricks came out of the ground, William went back to it.

“Brick” Magazine Remembers William Stead, Brick Magazine, February, 1902, Volume 16, no. 2, page 104: 

Don Guenther(1951-  ) Visits Waterloo, 2014

In 2014 Uncle Don visited the old site of the Stead Brother’s brick factory in Waterloo. 

William’s Obituary, 1902

The kilns have been bulldozed into the ground to make a county park and only buried shards bare witness to the old brick factory. But it is believed that if you know where to look, you can still uncover brick and kiln shards here. 

   

 William Stead Obituary,  Waterloo Times Tribune, January 17, 1902

Tillie’s Death, 1907

Matilda Duke Stead died in 1907. Tillie was buried next to her little grandson, Alice’s baby Charles, who died at birth. She would give the child company in her rest. Later, after Tillie was buried, Alice would bury one year old son Robert on the other side of her. There is speculation as to why Tillie isn’t buried by William. William had purchased a family plot, and he alone occupies the space. Could be a bad sign for William. Both William and Matilda are buried in Waterloo.  Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa, was as far west as they were to go. Let their daughter Alice finish the trip. 

William and Matilda had 4 children:

William and Matilda had 3 sons and 1 daughter, Alice. Alice grew up with the brick kilns. The firing of the kilns was spectacular, the awesome heat turned orange and then nearly white inside the brick kilns. It was like seeing the ocean for the first time, the power of it could be disturbing in its shear force. Matilda did not allow the children to play near the kilns. But they could see it, the heat waves pulsing up, the smoke billowing. It was like a local volcano! Perhaps the kilns somehow inspired Alice to be such a wonderful piano player, the glory of the fire springing from her fingers.

They were edging west and found a place to light in Black Hawk County. She had 4 children:

1. Frank(1863-1917)  

Born in 1863 in Waterloo. Educated and most likely worked for his father in the brick making business. Frank and a partner opened a grocery store. In 1885 he married Lulu Slade. They had four children, Harold (1887-1946), Bernard (1890-1959), Berchion (1891-1949 and Margery (1895-1900). Following a fire, Frank moved to Hopkinton, IA, where he had a grocery for years. He then moved to Hammond, LA, where he died in 1917.

2. George B.(1866-1935) 

Born in 1866 in Waterloo. Educated and an astute businessman. George went into the brick business like his father. George married Ida Shaick and they had a son Roger(1891-1946). Following a divorce from Ida, George then married Julia Cooper in 1894. They had two children Wayne (1896-1964) and Alice (1898-1903). The death of his daughter Alice in an accident turned his world upside down. George and Julia divorced. George was never the same. He tried marriage again and divorced. After the brick business in Waterloo failed he ventured west as a driver for his brother in-law Sam Guenther. George eventually moved to Oregon and set up a tile business in Eugene with his son Wayne. George married a final time and died in Jackson county Oregon in 1935.

3.  Alice A.(1871-1925) 

4.  Archibald W.(1876-1944).

Born in 1876 in Waterloo, Archie married Elizabeth “Dee” Minikus in 1908 and they had one son, Frank (1914-2001). Archibald went into the brickmaking business with his brother George and brother in-law Sam Guenther. Sam left the business which later failed. Frank moved to Tonasket, Washington in 1922  where he opened a radio shop. Archibald died in 1944 in Tonasket, Washington. 

A memory by Ronald B. Guenther:

You know what is funny here about Uncle Arch and Aunt Dee is this. Uncle Arch died in 1944 and Berchion told mom, no sense in sending any more Christmas cards up there any more. So, mom did not, but she never asked Berchion why not. She just accepted it. Pop never said anything more about it either. When they went up to bury Grandpa Sam, they must have known that Uncle Arch was failing and they would have seen Aunt Dee. It is strange that I never knew that the real name of Aunt Dee was Elizabeth. I am finding out all kinds of things. Dee and Arch were dirt poor, that is true, but mom said she was an awesome cook. Pop took mom up to Spokane right after they married and one of the reasons was to meet Dee and Arch, the rest of the family up there was dead by this time. So mom knew them and sent them Christmas greetings up to 1944. Dee must have been puzzled that suddenly she received nothing more from the folks in Coos Bay, but at least she had her son, Tad, the name we always called him not knowing until now that his name was Frank, and so she had some consolation. Otherwise, everyone she knew back in Waterloo was gone. If you look, you will see that we have a picture of her together with Grandma Alice. The two of them were very close.

Alice A. Stead(1871-1925) 

 Alice Stead(1871-1925) was born in 1871 in Waterloo. She had the love of her mother Matilda. Her children loved her dearly. She was an only daughter with three brothers. Alice excelled in music, particularly the piano.

Musical Entertainment in Waterloo, The Russell House

Rensselaer Russell moved to Waterloo in 1857 and purchased a lot for $750, where he built a house for himself and his wife. The house cost under $6,000 to build, a hefty sum for the day. The house was a center for entertainment in the Black Hawk County town of Waterloo, Iowa.

Alice married Sam Guenther(1867-1943) on July 17, 1902, the year the Wright brothers flew their first successful airplane. Her father William had died that year in January. She became an accomplished pianist and it is believed that she and Sam performed in the Russell House. Sam played violin. The story is passed down that Alice “played like an angel.” It is said that Sam and Alice would work up pieces and perform. You can almost hear from the Bogart movie, “Play it again, Sam.”

Alice would have played on the grand piano at the Russell House, the only such piano in the area. They likely played Mozart and Haydn. Alice was lovely as she performed in her expensive costume, gallant looking Sam there at her side making time with his violin. Sam would pass on his violin to his son, John, and Alice her piano to her daughter, Berchion.

  

Sam and Alice Get the Farm, 1903

Iowa Farm

Somehow, Sam got the Iowa farm from Sam’s parents around 1903, the whole thing, to the chagrin of Sam’s siblings. They moved off the farm and leased it out

Alice’s Illness

Alice was diagnosed with a heart condition, but it could have been other things. The doctor was miffed and proscribed traveling for Alice. So Sam sold the farm.

Going West, 1918

In 1918 Sam sold the farm, and he and Alice, with their children, set out for the West in a 1917 Chandler. Times were changing. No more wagons for Alice. She saw the advent of the automobile. World War I had ended that year, thankfully, for Sam was a German and the name Guenther was a bit of a burden for Alice, Germans not being the favorite people in the world at that time. Making it worse, Sam was pro-German. But they were, after all, Americans. Still, Sam’s adherence to Germany and later his support of Adolf Hitler, was disturbing. Very disturbing. 

Heading West was not done by wagon train anymore. There was the train first, and now the automobile. With Sam’s big score on the sale of the farm he wanted the best.

Alice was an adherent to the Methodist church, and Sam had no trouble leaving the Church of the Brethren that he grew up in. Sam did not have a faith of any kind so it was easy to give Alice what she wanted. For Alice, the Brethren represented Germany, not good.

Alice’s Death, 1925

Alice’s health continued to deteriorate. She died in 1925 and was sorely missed. Sam outlived his welcome and died in 1943. Alice and Sam are both buried in Cheney, Spokane County, Washington. Sam and Alice had John on April 15, 1912, in LaPorte City, Iowa. 

John E. Guenther(1912-1991)

John E. Guenther(1912-1991) married  Geraldine Delsman(1916-2012) in 1935 in Coos Bay, Oregon. After all  John’s rambling about with his father, Sam, he settled into the Coos Bay area and never left. He cranked up his violin on rare occasions. He sounded pretty screechy, but no one said anything. You didn’t want to cross John. In 1941 they bought the old place in Glasgow, Oregon. There they made a play paradise for their children and for many community members to enjoy. It was Geraldine’s dream place, a place to grow her flowers and raise her children. They had 14 children.

The Old Place

One of the first things to go on the old place was the outhouse. The secondary outhouse down in the cow pasture was still there in 1959 when Geraldine sent 6 year old Eddy to use it. The regular toilet had an apple stuck in it and John had his head down there working on it. Bad business. It was rumored that Aunt Annie had fumbled that apple into the fixture. Stuck in there like a cork.

On the old place, John built a swimming pool, small golf course, tennis court, and various other recreational sites. Geraldine baked bread, sold plums, and bore lots of children. 

She was Catholic and she raised her children Catholic. You were Catholic or you were nothing. John had no trouble abandoning Methodism to please Geraldine in her beliefs. John was like his father. No faith. Several family members have testified that John found his faith at the end of his life. All of us must stand before the judgement seat of Christ. Live like you know it.

Geraldine’s children romped on the bay, prayed rosaries, and ate meat and potatoes. Fish on Fridays. They attended Catholic school and played lots of sports. On Sundays you better be at church or risk hell’s damnation, or worse, Geraldine’s switch. It was a righteous switch and only administered in extreme circumstances, the like of which are better forgotten. Only the boys got the switch, which was a rare occurrence. The girls were good. Rightly so. Every switching was well earned, and Geraldine did not like giving out switchings. It was a desperate measure to be sure.

Of the 14 children, only two stayed in the Catholic church. the rest, like many of their ancestors, forged a new trail.

Geraldine and John are both buried in Coos Bay, Oregon. They had talked of moving to a climate more suited to growing gardens, but they never left North Bend. Those who have lived have a story to tell. Tell it. Storytelling runs in the family.

Bibliography

Atlas of Black Hawk County: Iowa, Pub. by Iowa Pub. Co.; M. Huebinger, D.E., manager; Copyright 1910 by Iowa Pub. : http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/atlases/id/3459

Brick making, 19th century: http://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1178&context=neha

Brickmaking, 19th century: http://www.medorabrickplant.org/M-Bricksbackthen.htm

Leak, Paul: History of Detroit, Lewis Publishing Co., 1912: http://mediasvc.ancestry.com/v2/image/namespaces/1093/media/e6ef91fc-2080-4875-b359-2887745357d2?client=TreesUI

Leeds clothiers: http://www.oswild.org/hobnob/family/john/leeds-st-peters.html