Letitia
Alice (Ream) Silbaugh
(1902-1970)
Letitia Alice (Ream) Silbaugh was born Dec. 9, 1902 in Lower Turkeyfoot Twp., Confluence, PA. She was known as 'Tish' by everyone and was the fifth of 16 children born to Joseph and Sarah Ellen (Harbaugh) Ream.
Letitia along with her two older sisters worked very hard on the family farm. They took care of all the household duties and gardening, milking and gathering eggs, while their father and brothers worked in the timber and ran the farm.
Tish married Robert Ami Silbaugh (1898-1965), son of John C. and Catherine (Daniels) Silbaugh. They were married on July 24, 1930. They had 2 children--Roger Franklin Silbaugh and (adopted) Carol Ann Osgood.
Tish
and Bob lived in the small village of Draketown,
just outside of Confluence. He was a retired coal miner and died Aug. 16,
1965 of cancer. He is buried at the Jersey Cemetery, Confluence, PA.
Tish had spent the day and that evening with Osborne, and his family talked her into staying the night at their house. She agreed, and after everyone had gone to bed, a fire broke out at the house. Tish’s brother, his wife and two girls were able to get out of the burning building. They tried as best the could to get Tish out but it was thought that she did not hear their calls and was perhaps overcome with smoke and died in the fire. The house was totally destroyed.
An FBI investigation followed to ascertain the whereabouts of Tish. They were able to determine that some bone fragments found in the ruins were that of a middle-aged to older female. The fire was so intense that the identity was very difficult to determine. The family had a memorial service for Tish after the investigation was concluded to put closure to this family tragedy.
Copyright © 2001 Doris (Sands) Hawker and Mark A. Miner