Mentzer E. Tilbury
(1851- ? )
Mentzer
E. "M.E." Tilbury was born
on April 10, 1851 most likely near Dixon, Van Wert
County, OH, bordering the Indiana state line, the son of Elihu and Amy
(Minerd) Tilbury. As a boy, he moved with his mother and step-father and
siblings to Chicago.
When the federal census of 1870 was taken, Mentzer lived with his mother and step-father in Chicago's Fifth Ward, where he was employed as a store clerk.
Mentzer married Clotilda Rainville (1853- ? ), a native of Vermont, in about 1876. Her parents were natives of Montreal, Canada.
They had five (or perhaps seven) children -- Harry Tilbury, George C. Tilbury, Ethel Horn, Alma Eckelberger and at least one unknown who may have died in infancy. One of his daughters was affectionately nicknamed "Dot."
The Tilburys resided in Illinois in the late 1870s and early '80s, where their eldest two children were born. They were in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, OH in 1886 at the time of the birth of their son George, and in Georgia in 1888 when daughter Alma was born.
The
Tilburys moved to Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA, in the 1890s, along with
Mentzer's brother Corwin. The federal
census of 1900 shows the Tilburys living on Gaskell Street in Pittsburgh, with
Mentzer employed as a "stereotyper." By 1910, they had moved to Poplar
Street in Carrick, on the southeastern edge of the city of Pittsburgh. Mentzer
was marked as retired, with sons Harry working as an office clerk and George in
a machine shop.
Mentzer apparently was close with his uncle and aunt, James and Martha Jane (Sheehan) Minerd, who resided on a farm on the Indiana-Ohio state line near Dixon, OH. Mentzer's brother Corwin had lived and worked on the Minerd farm as a teenager, and it's possible that Mentzer had also. Seen here, Mentzer (at left) poses with his beloved Uncle James at a date sometime before 1929, when the older man died.
During the 1920s, Mentzer resided in Carrick, making his home at 129 Merritt Avenue. Writing to cousin Goldie Minerd in Indiana in October 1925, he jokingly said: "I guess that you have your corn put a way. I wish that I could of been there to help you . That is the way it goes with these summer bums. They allways on hand when there is nothing to do, then sneak off when the work begins."
Mentzer
is seen at left with his brother Corwin (at left).
Mentzer was an avid baseball fan and rooted for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In a letter in the fall of 1925, after the Pirates had beaten the Washington Senators to win the World Series, he wrote: "Your Pa tells me that you was with me hurrahing for Pittsburghers against the Washingtons. That a boy. We won of corse but it was a hard battle. I tell you we have a base ball team here can't be beat. While the world's series was going on I sat at the radio from first to last until the last man was put out in the last inning of the last game, then up went my hat if there had of been a hold in the floor above the old hat would of went to the roof."
Mentzer's daughter "Dot" had two sons -- the youngest one's name was Frank. In 1927, reported Corwin in a letter to Indiana relatives, "One of [the sons] works at a wholesale hardware store down town. He carries his pay envelope home every week unopened and gives it to his mother. She says he won't take a cent out until she opens the envelope. He is certainly an exception for these times."
Mentzer resided with his son Harry and daughter Dot, but when Harry got married in April 1928, it threw the living arrangements into uncertainty. Corwin Tilbury wrote that "[Dot] was renting some rooms and she and her boys and M.E. will live together while George wants to leave Pgh. for awhile -- that breaks up the home and leaves poor Mentzer up in the air." That year, Dot worked during the Christmas season at one of the largest department stores in Pittsburgh -- possibly Joseph Horne's or Kaufmann's.
In 1933, he took a bus from Pittsburgh to Indiana to visit the Minerd cousins on the old family farm in Monroeville, making stops in Lima and Mansfield along the way back. He always seemed eager to travel to the old farm, and in April 1936, when his brother Corwin read him a letter from the Minerds, Mentzer "he wanted to start at once!" Corwin wrote. "I think he could stand the trip very well. He will be 85 next Friday, April 10th. He is still with George." By January 1929, wrote Corwin, "Harry and George have sold the home and Mentzer will go to live with Harry... M.E. does not like to leave Carrick and I can't blame him because he knows nearly everybody there."
Nothing is known of wife Clotilda, except that she was deceased by 1928.
Later in life, circa 1935, Mentzer resided with his son Harry in the North Hills section of Pittsburgh. A May 1935 letter, written by Mentzer's brother Corwin, said: "Mentzer is staying at Harry's in West View + Dot is going to be married..."
Mentzer is believed to have died in 1938. A letter written by brother Corwin, in early September 1938, states: "While I saw but little of Mentzer the last couple of years I miss him very much."
|
| West View Park, circa 1914, a top attraction in Pittsburgh near Harry Tilbury's home |
A
photograph of son Harry is seen at right, apparently working at a desk with a
Red Cross or safety manual on display. The location and date of the photo are a mystery.
Harry (1882- ? ) married Ethel Brown (1894- ? ) in April 1928. Ethel was a native of Pennsylvania whose parents had come from Scotland. They were about a decade apart in age. The Tilburys resided at 6 Perry Lane in West View, with a post office address of Perrysville. His employment in 1930 was as a clerk in a telephone company. They had no children. Harry died on Sept. 10, 1963, and was buried at Allegheny County Memorial Park. Ethel survived him by a decade, and passed away in 1973.
Son George (1885-1974) was a typewriter repairman, and resided at 6200 Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh, possibly in the East Liberty neighborhood. One of his customers was his uncle Corwin D. Tilbury, who wrote many letters with a typewriter over the years. In March 1929, George was out of work "and has been for over a month but he does not seem to be worrying any," wrote Corwin. "He does not want to go back to his regular business that of repairing typewriters; I think he is making a mistake." By June 1929, George had established a typewriter business in East Liberty, buying, selling and repairing the machines. Wrote Corwin:
He has an office and shop in one of the office buildings here all fitted up conveniently and neatly as is his fashion. He also has a new kind of bed contrivance which he can fold up and stand in a corner. You are able to pick it up without much effort and place it wherever you want it. He has cooking utensils so eats, sleeps and works in the two rooms he has fitted up.
At the age of 48, on July 8, 1935, George married Dr. Marie (Yorty) Kuhns (1888-1974). Marie was born in New Florence, PA, and the daughter of Jacob and Camelia (Shepard) Yorty. Marie brought a son, Leonard L. Kuhns, to the marriage. The following month, Mentzer's half-sister Leona Thorne wrote this to a cousin:
One of Mentzer's sons - (George) was married a few weeks ago - and it promises to be a very excellent selection. The bride is a physician with an office in the same building George is in. Corwin attended the wedding and was loud in his praises of the lady. George is a mighty mice boy, too.
George and Marie resided at 7040 Bennett Street in Homewood, near Pittsburgh, from 1936 to 1942, the year he retired. In September 1942, they moved to Ligonier, Westmoreland County, PA. There, they belonged to the Fort Palmer United Presbyterian Church. Ironically, their new home was just 30 miles from the Laurel Hill farm where Mentzer's grandfather, John Minerd Jr., had been born, and left behind in 1817 to migrate to Ohio.
In 1948, when George's uncle Corwin Tilbury died, George was named in the will and received close to $1,500 in payment. Writing in December 1941, a few weeks after World War II had broken out, Leona Thorne wrote: "One of Mentzer's grandsons is now in camp, in the south - and the other one many have to go soon. Both are well equipped to render splendid service to the government."
George
died in Ligonier in February 1974. Just three months
later, in May, Marie
followed him to the grave, passing away at Indiana (PA) Hospital. They are buried in
Menoher Memorial Cemetery, along Route 271, about five miles north of Ligonier's
famed Diamond Square.
Daughter Ethel Tilbury (1877- ? ) married Herbert (?) Horn. In 1900, she worked as a saleslady in a store in Pittsburgh. She is believed to have resided in Canada circa March 1934. Nothing further is known.
Daughter Alma Tilbury (1888- ? ) married (?) Eckelberger. Nothing further is known.
Copyright © 2002-2005, 2008 Mark A. Miner