|
|
|
Emma
(Minerd) Treseder |
Emma Jane (Minerd)
Treseder was born in November 1859 in Farmington, Fayette County, PA, the daughter of Samuel
and Rebecca (Smalley) Minerd.
When the federal census was taken in 1880, Emma made her home with her parents in West Newton, Westmoreland County, PA. She and her unmarried sister Margaret "Hester" Minerd are shown as laborers in a local paper mill, with Emma listed as having a "finger cut off," apparently related to her work in the mill. It may well have been her right hand involved in the accident, as in a later photo, she is shown covering the hand with her left hand.
In 1886, unmarried and at age 27, Emma and her parents and siblings ventured westward. They left their longtime homes and became pioneer settlers of Kansas, settling in Pittsburg, Crawford County.
In October 1897, for the price of $1,000, she and her sister Margaret acquired lots 3 and 4 in Pittsburg's Third Addition from their brothers John and Levi Springer.
She is named in the Pittsburg City Directory of 1900-1901 as a clerk for Israel Bros., and residing in her parents' home at 303 West 9th Street.
On Dec. 16, 1909, when Emma was age 45, she married 50-year-old widower Stephen Treseder (1860- ? ). He was a native of Wisconsin, and his parents both were from England. The ceremony was performed by Gerrell Snyder, a minister of the Gospel.
Stephen apparently had come to Pittsburg from Dodgeville, Iowa County, WI between 1900 and 1904 after the death of his first wife Julia J. (?) (1858- ? ). He and Julia had been married in about 1879 and had three children, only one of whom apparently lived to adulthood. Thus, at the time of his nuptials with our Emma, he brought a 28-year-old daughter to the marriage, Beulah Treseder (born 1881 in Wisconsin).
|
|
|
Broadway, north from Fourth Street, early 1900s |
In
about 1904, perhaps as an engagement gift, Stephen presented her with a pewter
pitcher onto which were engraved the words, "E. Minerd, 1904." Because they never had any children, Emma
later gave the pitcher to her
firstborn nephew, Orville Baldwin
Minerd.
They are listed together in the Pittsburg City Directory of 1903-1904, with an address of 307 North Walnut. But they did not marry until 1909, as confirmed by the date on their marriage license on file today at the Crawford County courthouse in Girard, KS.
When the federal census was taken in 1910, the Treseders resided on West Euclid Street in Pittsburg. Stephen was employed as a salesman in a clothing store, and Emma worked as a sales lady in a dry goods store. (In his years in Dodgeville, WI, Stephen also had worked as a clothing salesman.) that year, Stephen's daughter Beulah made her home with an aunt and uncle, Clara V. and William Hoffenbacher, in Hancock, Houghton County, MI.
Emma and her sister Margaret "Hester" Jackson, took in a small girl, Kathryn (Minerd) Schewaski Hughey, "which the two of them raised," recalled a nephew. The girl later was formally adopted by the Treseders.
Emma
passed away on Sept. 19, 1919, at the age of 60. She was placed to eternal rest
beside her parents, at the Mount Olive Cemetery, with an unusual round marker of
carved granite placed at her grave. The marker -- seen here -- was photographed
by the founder of this website in October 2010.
After Emma's death, Stephen was faced with the task of settling the estate. After all the accounts were settled and debts paid, both Stephen and Kathryn received cash payouts of $88.40.
Stephen apparently did not remarry but remained a widower. In 1930, at the age of 70, he and his unmarried daughter Beulah are enumerated in the federal census of Pittsburg. His occupation was listed as representative of an insurance agency.
Stephen's fate after that is unknown.
~ Daughter Kathryn (Minerd) Schewaski Hughey ~
Daughter Kathryn Minerd died in 1958 in Joplin, MO, but never had any children of her own.
Copyright © 2000, 2007 Mark A. Miner