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Samuel Weyand
(1826-1907)

 

     
The Weyands' graves in Orange Township Cemetery
Courtesy "Couple of Gravers," FindAGrave.com

Samuel Weyand was born on Nov. 7, 1826 in Somerset County, PA, the son of Michael and Mary Anne (Ream) Weyand Sr.

He "was raised on a farm and attended the district schools of Somerset County," said his profile in the 1904 book History of Black Hawk County, Iowa and Representative Citizens. "Upon reaching maturity, Mr. Weyand set out int he world for himself and was engaged in farming pursuits..."

Another source, the Waterloo (IA) Courier, said that "early in life he was compelled to make his own way, following the occupation of a farmer."

On Nov. 1, 1846, when he would have been approaching his 20th birthday, Samuel was united in holy matrimony with 24-year-old Caroline Umberger (1822-1895), a resident of of Brothersvalley, Somerset County, who had been born in Kentucky. News of their wedding was published in the Somerset Herald.

 

Somerset Herald, Nov. 10, 1846
Courtesy Library of Congress

The year of their marriage, the federal census taker recorded the Weyands as living in Brothersvalley, next door to her relatives Michael Umberger and Philip Umberger.

The couple produced four children -- among them Harriet "Hattie" Shaulis, Ellen Albright Meyers, Martha "Mattie" Weyand and Mary A. Shaulis.

The United States Census of 1860 shows the Weyands and their four daughters residing on a farm in Jefferson Township, Somerset County.

In 1870, after the death of his father, Samuel at the age of 44 inherited the sum of $969.90 from the estate. He is known to have traveled in May 1878 to Bloomington, IL to visit his sister Catharine Frank and brother William Weyand.

Caroline's brother Herman,
killed by the Nicely brothers
It must have been with mixed feelings that the Weyands bade farewell in the 1870s to their married daughter Hattie Shaulis and her husband Simon and grandchildren James and Ellen who migrated to Iowa and put down roots in Black Hawk County.

 

When their daughter Mary Shaulis divorced in the late 1870s, she went to Iowa to live with the Shaulises, and Samuel and Caroline brought her young daughter Flora into their home to raise. The U.S. Census of 1880 shows that they also were raising a nine-year-old grandson, Charles Albright. Grief wracked the Weyands in the dead of winter 1882 when daughter Mary died at the age of about 25. They buried her in Salem Reformed Cemetery, under her maiden name.

In 1883-1884, the Weyands made the decision to venture westward to Iowa to join their daughter Hattie who already had been there for several years, and where their motherless grandson William Edward Shaulis was living as well. They sold their farm in Jefferson Township and, upon arriving, established a home in the Waterloo community. Samuel purchased "one of the finest farms in Black Hawk county," said the Somerset Herald. Their married daughter and son-in-law Ellen and Henry Meyers also made the journey, in the spring of 1884.

The Weyands' signatures. National Archives
The Weyands stayed in Iowa for good. They were therefor about six years when they received word of a horrific family tragedy back home. On the fateful day of Feb. 27, 1889, Caroline's brother Herman Umberger had been murdered in cold blood in his farmhouse two miles north of Jennerstown, Somerset County. Two brothers from neighboring Ligonier Township, Westmoreland County -- David Nicely and Joseph Nicely -- were apprehended, tried and convicted in the killing, and sentenced to die for their crimes. Then in September 1890, the brothers tried to escape from the Somerset County Jail and twice at close range shot Samuel's cousin, deputy sheriff Milton R. McMillin, who nearly died from his wounds. The Nicelys were re-arrested and in the spring of 1891 were executed by hanging, generating sensational coverage in newspapers from coast to coast. It was the most notorious murder case in county history, if not Pennsylvania's, up to that time.

Caroline and Samuel both signed an affidavit in the early 1890s saying they had known son-in-law Meyers for 16 years and that "he has complained and was often sick from Asthma and disese of heart. I first became acquainted with him in Somerset County Pa. and since he moved here in 1884 he has compalined of the same..." Samuel duly signed his name to the document, but Caroline, unable to write, signed with an "X" mark. 

 

Somerset Herald, 1895
Courtesy Library of Congress

Caroline passed away at home at the age of 72 on May 31, 1895. An obituary was published in her old hometown newspaper, the Herald, which noted that her brother Perry Umberger survived her and mentioner her deceased brother Herman.

Samuel lived for another dozen-plus years after his wife's death. He returned to Somerset where on Dec. 21, 1899, he was united on the bonds of marriage to 71-year-old Elizabeth (Shaffer) Heiple (April 17, 1829-1908), the widow of Aaron Heiple. The daughter of Henry and Martha (Umberger) Shaffer, Elizabeth would have been Samuel's niece by marriage.

The newlyweds came to Iowa and moved into the town of Waterloo. The 1900 census shows Samuel and Elizabeth in a home on West Fourth Street in Waterloo, with 46-year-old, unmarried daughter Martha living under their roof and earning a living as a dressmaker. They hosted the wedding of their grandson William Edward Shaulis to Carrie Bertch in their home on Valentine's Day 1900, an event covered in the Waterloo Courier.

 

Waterloo Courier, 1907. Courtesy Dan Floyd

In all, Samuel farmed and raised stock for 17 years. When named in the 1904 Black Hawk County history, he had produced a dozen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, and took "great interest in the family."

He joined Caroline in eternity on Nov. 4, 1907. Following funeral services in the South Waterloo Church, led by Rev. Frank Cole, burial was beside his first wife in the Orange Township Cemetery. [Find-a-Grave] An obituary in the Courier noted that he was survived by 14 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, with all of them making  a home in Black Hawk County.

The Courier eulogized that Samuel "had been ill for some time, and the members of the family had abandoned hope of his recovery.... The deceased was a worthy man and he held the respect and friendship of all who came in contact with him. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and his councils were valued highly in that organization. His greatest monument is the family of stalwart and God fearing children that survive him."

The widowed Elizabeth then returned to Somerset County where she spent her final months. She passed away of old age and rheumatism on Sept. 6, 1908 in the Jenner Township home of a nephew, Aaron Shaffer. Her remains were laid to rest in Friedens Cemetery.

In 1909, Samuel was named in E. Clayton Wyand's book A Brief History of the Andrew Putman (Buttman, Putnam), Christian Wyandt (Weyandt, Weygandt, Voint, Wyand) and Adam Snyder (Schneider) Families of Washingon County, Maryland, in a quote from a letter written by William H. Welfley of Somerset. Circa 2000, he was mentioned in genealogy research done by James Weyand, MD of Seattle, WA.

 

~ Daughter Harriet "Hattie" (Weyand) Shaulis ~

Daughter Harriet "Hattie" Weyand (1847-1935) was born the day after Christmas 1847 in Somerset County.

She migrated to Iowa with her parents in 1883, at age 36, where she became the second wife of widower and Civil War veteran Simon Shaulis (March 31, 1844-1931), son of Emanuel Adam and Julia Ann (Harsh) Shaulis, sometimes misspelled "Shauley." 

 

Somerset Herald, Sept. 18, 1878
Courtesy Library of Congress

Simon also a native of Somerset County and had been baptized in infancy on April 26, 1844 in Christ's Lutheran Church of the Somerset pastorate. In adulthood, he stood 5 feet, 8½ inches tall, and weighed 160 lbs., with a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.

He and his first wife, Louisa Brant ( ? -Aug. 25, 1877), had resided on a farm in Black Hawk County, where she died on Aug. 25, 1877 after a dozen years of marriage. Thus he brought these known offspring to the union with our Hattie -- James "Monroe" Shaulis, Ellen B. Peverill, Henry E. Shaulis, Clara M. Peverill and Emma M.A. Shaulis.

Harriet and Simon were joined in marriage in Waterloo County on Sept. 8, 1878 by the hand of Rev. J.R. Berry. The news was sent back home to Somerset County and thence into the "Married" column of the Somerset Herald.

The couple's marriage lasted for more than 50 years. They produced four children of their own -- Ira S. Shaulis, Frank R. Shaulis, Ada Mae Hatch and Anna Grace Queer.

 

Cannonfire across the Rappahannock during the Battle of Fredericksburg

 

 

Surgeon's sketch of Simon's groin wound
National Archives

During the Civil War, Simon had served in the 142nd Pennsylvania Infantry, Company C. He enlisted in the Union Army on July 31, 1862 in Somerset County and was mustered into the service as a private on Aug. 25, 1862 in the state capitol of Harrisburg. He and the regiment took part in their first action, the bloody Battle of Fredericksburg, on Dec. 13, 1862. While in action, he received a wound at the top of his left thigh, near his testicles, and was sent to the Findley General Hospital in the District of Columbia. On Jan. 7, 1863, he was furloughed and may have returned home, but when he did not report back to the regiment on time a month later, he was declared a deserter. Six months later, on Aug. 17, 1863, he was placed under military arrest and was sent for confinement to Carlisle Barracks in Carlisle, PA. He underwent a court martial on the grounds of desertion. The military court exonerated him from the charge, but ruled him guility of absence without official leave. This meant he was to be returned to duty but forfeiture of all pay and allowances and to make up the time he had lost. He only remained in custody for a few weeks and rejoined his regiment in September 1863.

Shortly after, he contracted severe diarrhea and was sent away from the regiment for treatment, ultimately assigned to Mansion House Branch of the 1st Division General Hospital in Alexandria, VA on Nov. 14, 1863. Simon remained at the Mansion House for a little more than two months until a transfer to the 2nd Veterans Reserve Corps (VRC), Company 144, on Feb. 4, 1864. In March 1864, he was detached from the 2nd VRC and provided service at Cliffburn Barracks, said to have been located a few miles north of the White House in the Mount Pleasant section of the District of Columbia. He apparently recovered his health sufficiently enough to rejoin his original unit, the 142nd Pennsylvania Infantry, in September or October 1864. Staying with the 142nd Pennsylvania for the duration of the war, he received an honorable discharge in Harrisburg, PA on May 29, 1865.

 

Somerset Herald, June 10, 1885
Courtesy Library of Congress

Simon and his first wife and family lived in Berlin, Somerset County until April 1874, when they made the decision to migrated to Iowa. They made their home in Waterloo, Black Hawk County for the rest of their respective lives.

Federal census enumeration records for 1880 show the family in Orange Township, Black Hawk County, with Hattie's married sister Mary Shaulis and her son William living in the household.

The year of his first wife's passing, Simon began receiving a military pension as compensation for his wartime sufferings. [Invalid App. #241.104 - Cert. #253.011] He remained a widower for about 13 months until his marriage to our Hattie.

Heartache swept over the family on May 29, 1885 when their daughter Emma died in Waterloo at age 10 years, six months and 16 days. An obituary appearing in the Somerset Herald reported that the cause was "that dread disease, diphtheria."

Hattie and Simon are named in the 1904 book History of Black Hawk County, Iowa and Representative Citizens, authored by Isaiah Van Metre.

 

Hattie's (above) and Simon's signatures
National Archives

In 1910, when an atlas of Orange Township was published, Simon was marked as owner of two contiguous farms of 160 acres each. One was known as "Pine Grove Farm" and the other as "Walnut Grove Farm." These tracts were in very close proximity to the farms of former Somerset Countians John and Sarah "Sally" (Saylor) Dull, the Orange Township Cemetery and to the local Church of the Brethren. Many of their neighbors had familiar Somerset County surnames, among them Elmer M., Art M. and Elmer Lichty, Noah J. Fike, Amos D., Samuel and Jonas D. Sweitzer, U.S. Blough, Harvey R. Schrock, Samuel M. and John B. Harbaugh, D.R. Shank, William H. Maust, and D.B. Saylor.

The Shaulises retired from farming in 1917, when Simon would have been 73 years of age. They moved to a home at 226 Home Park Boulevard on Waterloo. As he aged, Simon began to lose his eyesight. This prompted Hattie to write in February 1921: he "is blindf in the right eye and that his other eye is and has been failing for more than one year, and that his hearing has been affected and it is difficult for him to hear or carry on an ordinary conversation; also it is impossible for him to talk over the telephone." He suffered a stroke of paralysis on or about July 30, 1924 and his health declined further, with bouts of senility.

As did many Civil War veterans of the era, Simon was active with the Grand Army of the Republic (Robert Anderson Post) and the Sons of Veterans. He served as commander of the GAR group and, in 1931, held the post of patriotic instructor.

Simon passed into eternity at home the day after Christmas 1931 in Waterloo. The funeral was held at their home on Home Park Boulevard, with full military rites provided, followed by another service at the First Brethren Church. A firing squad and taps bugler were part of the graveside service, with his grandsons Ray Peverill, Leo Peverill, Henry Peverill, Claude Peverill, Edward Shaulis and Edward Queer serving as pallbearers. Members of the Sons of Veterans served as honorary pallbearers -- D.F. Merriman, Warren Kelsey, Merlyn Snodgrass, J.C. Knapp, W.S. Crutcher and Frank M. Stull. An obituary was printed in the Waterloo Courier, which said that among those traveling to the funeral were son J.M. from Rockford, CO and niece Anna Raber of Savannah, MO. Harriet survived him by a little more than three years and was awarded her husband's pension. [Widow App. #1.709.104 - Cert. A-4-11-32]. Sadly, burdened with senility and heart failure, she suffered a stroke and died at home on Feb. 5, 1935, with burial in Orange Township Cemetery. [Find-a-Grave] Because one or more of their children was underage at the time they became orphaned, the pension was awarded thereto until they reached the age of maturity. [XC #2.646.922] Many years later, in 1980, Harriet and Simon were named in an edition of The Cedar Tree newsletter of the Northeast Iowa Genealogical Society..

 

Above and below: 1910 Atlas of Orange Township, Black Hawk County. Note Simon Shaulis' adjoining tracts of 160 acres each and the proximity of their farms to the John and Sarah Dull farms, Orange Cemetery and Church of the Brethren.

 

Stepson James "Monroe" Shaulis (1866-1935) was born on July 9 or 19, 1866 in Somerset County and came to Iowa in 1874 at the age of eight. He married De La "Adella" Irvin (1868-1952). The couple eventually migrated to Colorado, making a home in Rockford. Circa 1931, as his father was dying, Monroe returned to Waterloo and spent an extended amount of time there until the father's death around Christmas 1931. Monroe passed away in 1935 and rests for all time in Hillcrest Cemetery in Rocky Ford, Otero County, CO. De La outlived him by 17 years and died in 1952.

Stepdaughter Ellen B. "Ella" Shaulis (1868-1919) was born on March 10 or May 16, 1868. She married Albert L. Peverill (March 23, 1861-1920). Ellen died in 1919 and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Waterloo. Albert joined her in death a year later on Dec. 3, 1920.

Stepson Henry E. Shaulis (1869-1956) was born on Dec. 17, 1869. He made the migration trip to Iowa with his family in 1874, at the age of five. He married Minnie G. (March 1877- ? ), a native of West Virginia. In 1900, the newlyweds lived in Hudson, Black Hawk County, IA and provided a room in their home for a cousin, Charles Albright. The Shaulises went on to bear one or more children. Circa 1929, their address was 1003 Independence Avenue in Waterloo, and in October that year they hosted a Shaulis family reunion, the first time the clan had gathered in two decades. The Waterloo Courier noted that 39 relatives were present "from Iowa, Colorado and Illinois. J.M. Shaulis, Rocky Ford, Colo., and F.R. Shaulis, La Junta, Colo., came the longest distance to this family gathering, at which the youngest present was Elnora Peverill, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Peverill, Waterloo. Following a picnic dinner the afternoon was spent informally." Henry passed into eternity at the age of 86 on June 23, 1956. His remains are in eternal repose in Waterloo Memorial Park Cemetery.

Stepdaughter Clara M. Shaulis (1872-1939) was born on Oct. 3, 1872 in Somerset County. She was not yet two years old when she traveled to a new home in Iowa. She wedded Hugh Grant Peverill (Nov. 29, 1868-1934). Their children were Harold Peverill, Leo Dewey Peverill, Ray Peverill, Henry Peverill, Elmer Peverill, Fred Peverill, Robert Peverill, Etta O. Magee and Jennie Welter. They also lost two daughters in infancy. The Peverill farm was located five miles east of Waterloo along the Grant Highway. Tragically, their 23-year-old son Harold was lost at sea on Aug. 27, 1918, a friendly-fire casualty of World War I. Circa April 1931, as a gesture for the sacrifice of their sons, the federal government awarded Clara and seven other gold star mothers an all-expense-paid trip to France to visit the wartime battlefields. She spent six weeks in France and saw the battlefields of Verdun and central France as well as the American Cemetery while also touring Paris and London. After sailing back to the United States, on the U.S.S. Washington, she "stopped en route from New York at Somerset, Pa., and visited her birthplace and relatives there," said the Waterloo Courier. Hugh died on Jan. 21, 1934 at the age of 65. Clara outlived him by about five-and-a-half years. On Sept. 9, 1939, at the age of 66, she passed away. Burial was in Fairview Cemetery in Waterloo.

  • Step-grandson Harold Peverill (1895-1918) was born on May 6, 1895. As a boy, he attended the Barclay School and circa 1909 was a contestant in a county-wide spelling contest. He remained in the Waterloo area and earned a living as a laborer in 1915. After the outbreak of World War I, he joined the U.S. Navy in late 1917 and became a machinist's mate. He was assigned to a submarine chaser no. 209, commanded by Lt. Henry J. Bowes. Tragically, on the fateful day of Aug. 27, 1918, while the vessel was patrolling the waters off Fire Island, NY, it was mistaken for an enemy submarine and fired upon by the American steamer Felix Taussig. The chaser was sunk, and while nine crew members were rescued, Harold and the other 15 men were not, and his body was never recovered. Reported the Waterloo Courier, "the little chaser went down ablaze three minutes after being hit by two of the four shots from the gun of the ship a distance of 200 feet. According to the account of the Taussig's captain the gun crew opened fire when an object resembling a submarine appeared and crossed the steamer's bow without showing lights. Apparently one of the shots exploded a depth bomb on board the chaser, quickly ending her career." The horrific news was carried by other newspapers coast to coast. The survivors were so aghast at the senseless loss of life that a year after the sinking, they gathered 35,000 signatures on a petition to raise the sunken vessel, but nothing ever came of it. In the years following, a marble shaft bearing Harold's name was erected in Fairview Cemetery, over an empty grave, inscribed as follows: "Fallen for liberty. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his country."
  • Step-grandson Leo Dewey Peverill (1897-1966) was born on Aug. 26, 1897 in Black Hawk County and lived his entire life in the county. He apparently never married nor reproduced He served in the U.S. military during World War I. Later, he returned to Waterloo and dwelled on Highway 20. He earned a living repairing automobiles and gasoline engines. Suffering from a heart problem, he was admited to St. Francis Hospital in Evansdale, IL where he succumbed at the age of 69 on Oct. 21, 1966. An obituary appeared in the Waterloo Courier.
  • Step-grandson Ray Peverill ( ? - ? ) is believed to have been joined in wedlock with Ruth Lazemby ( ? - ? ), daughter of Thomas and Carrie A. (Graham) Lazemby. They were tenant farmers in Waterloo and, in March 1914, moved to the Mrs. Clough farm. Then in May 1919 he purchased a 120-acre farm located four miles north of Dunkerton. He and one of his brothers harvested 75 acres of oats over the span of four days n April 1925, and the Waterloo Courier noted that "There was no trouble with tractor or machinery going bad during the time they were operating at top speed." The Peverills are known to have attended the Shaulis family reunion in Waterloo in Oct. 1929, the first time the family had been together in 20 years. Circa 1943, their address was 127 Mohawk Street in Waterloo. He lived in Sunnyvale, CA in 1966-1976.
  • Step-grandson Henry G. Peverill (1903-1970) was born on Oct. 27, 1903 in Black Hawk County. He did not marry nor reproduce. He served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II and was a member of the Becker-Chapman Post of the American Legion. For more than 25 years, he was employed by John Deere at its Waterloo tractor works and gelonged to the United Auto Workers-Congress of Industrial Organizations (UAW-CIO). In his spare time, he enjoyed his membership in the local Eagles lodge. After retiring in 1965, the bachelor Henry made his home n the Allison Hotel in Waterloo. At the age of 66, he suffered a stroke and succumbed in Scholtz memorial Hospital on June 28, 1970. An obituary ran in the Waterloo Courier.
  • Step-grandson Elmer Peverill ( ? - ? ) was born in (?). In 1927, he married Della Goss (Dec. 21, 1909-1970), a native of Waterloo and the daughter of Delbert and Augusta Goss. They were the parents of Mrs. Frank Grantham, Mrs. Clifford Miller and Mrs. Harmon Stone. The family relocated to California in 1941, settling in Sunnyville before moving again to Cupertino, where they were in 1966-1976. Sadly, stricken with cancer, the 60-year-old Della passed away in Cupertino on June 7, 1970, and is believed to be interred there. The Waterloo Courier published her obituary. Elmer is thought to have returned to Waterloo where he died at the age of 78 in March 1985.
  • Step-grandson Fred William Peverill (1910-2005) was born on Aug. 6, 1910 in Black Hawk County. On Oct. 5, 1940, when he was 30 years of age, he was united in wedlock with Mary E. Wenger ( ? - ? ), daughter of Jesse and Sarah (Bender) Wenger of Franklin County, PA. Their nuptials were held in New Hampton, IL. The couple produced these offspring -- Fred W. Peverill II, Betty J. Power and Janice Wheeler. He joined the U.S. Army and served in World War II. Fred spent a 37-year career working for Rath Packing Company in its cut and trim department. Mary also worked in the 1960s and early '70s in the fabric department of Wells Discount Store and retired in 1972. The couple resided at 536 Adrian Street in Waterloo in 1966-1976. At the age of 94, Fred succumbed to natural causes on July 28, 2005. The Waterloo Courier ran an obituary which noted that he was survived by seven grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. His remains were interred in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Waterloo. Mary outlived him by three years and died at the age of 93 on June 12, 2008.
  • Step-grandson Robert Peverill made a home in 1966 on Route 4 near Waterloo and in 1976 near Gilbertville.
  • Step-granddaughter Etta O. Peverill ( ? - ? ) wedded (?) Magee ( ? - ? ). Her home in 1966 was in Independence and in 1976 at 1535 Hawthorne Avenue.
  • Step-granddaughter Jennie Peverill (1908-1976) was born on June 9, 1908 in Waterloo. At the age of 23, on Feb. 26, 1935, she was joined in holy matrimony with John Welter ( ? - ? ), with the nuptials held in Raymond, IL. The couple did not reproduce. The Wallers lived in 1966 at 135 Joder Street in Waterloo and eventually relocated to Brainerd, MN. Sadly, at the age of 67, Jennie died in Brainerd's St. Joseph's Hospital on March 14, after suffering a heart attack. The Waterloo Courier printed an obituary.

Son Ira S. Shaulis (1881-1984) was born on Feb. 6, 1881 on a farm in Waterloo. He married Alta D. (Dec. 10, 1886-1966). They were the parents of Edward Samuel Shaulis and Evelyn May Graham. The couple may have divorced. In the 1920s, Ira earned a living as a laborer in Waterloo. Ira wedded a second time on Feb. 19, 1928, at the age of 47, to 49-year-old Maude (Beaumont) Galvin ( ? - ? ). She was a native of Kesley, Butler County, IA, the daughter of Edmund and Laura (DeLong) Beaumont. Rev. Edwin Boardman Jr., of the Brethren Church of Waterloo, officiated at the ceremony, and Henry E. Shaulis and Minnie Shaulis served as witnesses. First wife Alta passed away at the age of 80 in Oct. 1966. Ira survived her by 18 years. At the age of 102, he succumbed in Waterloo on Jan. 3, 1984. They rest in Orange Township Cemetery. [Find-a-Grave].

Son Frank R. Shaulis (1885- ? ) was born on Feb. 18, 1885.

Daughter Ada Mae Shaulis (1887-1976) was born on Jan. 14, 1887. She was united in holy matrimony with Charles C. Hatch (1881-1948), son of William and Elizabeth (Meyers) Hatch. They lived in rural Waterloo in 1931. Charles died in 1948 with burial in Orange Township Cemetery in Waterloo. Ada Mae survived him by 28 years. She succumbed at the age of 89 the day after Christmas 1976.

Daughter Anna Grace Shaulis (1889-1986) was born on March 9, 1889 in Iowa. She was joined in wedlock with William John Queer (July 8, 1886-1964), who was a native of Brothersvalley Township, Somerset County, PA. One known child was born to this union, Ruth Harriet Schleusner. Their home in 1931 was in Waterloo. William passed away on Jan. 8, 1964, at the age of 77. He was was interred in Waterloo Memorial Park Cemetery. Anna Grace lived as a widow for another 22 years. She joined him in death at the age of 97 on Oct. 2, 1986.

  • Grandaughter Ruth Harriet Queer (1916-2009) was born on Feb. 15, 1916 in Waterloo. She married Frank W. Schleusner (1909-1978). They bore three known children, Joanne M. Iverson, Ronald Schleusner and Jacqueline Schleusner. Frank died 1978 at the age of 68 or 69. Ruth lived to the age of 93. She grieved in 1999 when their daughter Joanne died at age 63. Ruth succumbed in Waterloo on Sept. 10, 2009. They rest side by side in Saint Marys Cemetery in Gilbertville, Black Hawk County. Inscribed across the top of their grave marker is the opening line of the Lord's Prayer: "The Lord is my Shepherd," ant their children's names are carved at the bottom.

 

~ Daughter Ellen (Weyand) Albright Meyers ~

Daughter Ellen Weyand (1851-1934) -- also known at times as "Helen Weyant" -- was born in June 1851 in Somerset County.

She was wed twice. In the early to mid-1870s, she married first to Jacob Albright (1837- ? ), a native of Maryland.

The federal census of 1870 shows the newlyweds residing with her parents in Jefferson Township, Somerset County. That year, Jacob, who could not read or write, earned a living as a laborer.

The couple bore a son, Charles Albright, born in 1870 or 1871.

The first marriage ended after only a handful of years, before 1875.

When Ellen was age 23, on Feb. 11, 1875, she was united in holy matrimony with her second spouse, 27-year-old Henry B. Meyers (Jan. 3, 1847-1915). Officiating at their wedding was Elder Edward Bevins, with Ammon Barkman serving as one of the witnesses. No family or church record was kept, except for a wedding notice in the Somerset Herald giving her name as "Miss Ellen Weyand." Henry was a native of Brunswick, Germany, who had emigrated at the age of about one with his parents in 1848. He stood 5 feet, 5 inches tall, weighed 140 lbs., and had grey eyes and a fair complexion.

Henry's signature. National Archives
At the age of 17, Henry joined the Union Army during the Civil War, enlisting on Aug. 26, 1864 in Somerset County. He was assigned to the 5th Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, Battery K, commanded by Capt. John M. Kent. Ellen's distant cousin David Harbaugh also was a member of the 5th Heavy Artillery, in Battery D. Henry  did not see active service during his term of service. During the winter of 1864-1865, the 5th worked at the Bull Run/Manassas battlefield, burying thousands of dead soldiers whose rotting corpses had lain exposed since the battle the previous two summers earlier. In late October 1864, in Piedmont along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad in Virginia, he became ill with intermittent fever and infalamed tonsils and was sent to an army hospital in Alexandria. Fellow soldier John R. Zufall, of Somerset, heard him complain of asthma and heart disease. He received his honorable discharge on June 30, 1865 at Vienna, VA.

The Meyerses bore these eight known offspring -- Caroline Janett  "Carrie" McMillin, George Alber Meyers, Margaret G. "Maggie" Waltman, Mary Elizabeth Hudson, Anna Belle Raber, John Henry Meyers, Lloyd Edgar Meyers and Hattie Meyers. The eldest three were born in Pennsylvania, and the rest in Iowa.

Henry earned a living as a carpenter in the years after the war. When the United States Census was taken in 1880, the family dwelled in Somerset, Somerset County. That year, Ellen's son from the first marriage, Charles Albright, age nine, lived with her parents in Jefferson Township. Among their neighbors during that peeriod was Joseph Zimmerman.

 

Water tower in rural Hudson, IA, and the Baptist Church Henry helped found

 

In the spring of 1884, the Meyerses migrated to Iowa with Ellen's parents. They put down roots on a farm northwest of Hudson, Black Hawk County, and remained for good. From 1886 to 1889, they dwelled on the farm of brother-in-law Simon Shaulis and then moved about three miles away. He provided farm labor during that time for Shaulis and for father-in-law Samuel Weyand.  

Henry is known to have been a charter member of the Hudson Baptist Church and was a member for the rest of his years. He "had many friends both in and out of the church," said the Waterloo Courier.

Henry was awarded a pension in 1890 for his service and ailments during the Civil War. [Invalid App. #848.060 - Cert. #1.060.087] Subsequent efforts to have the pension amounts increased due to claims of asthma, fever, laryngitis, bronchitis and enlarged heart were rejected. One physician, Dr. Willard Eddy, of Waterloo, wrote that "Bad weather causes frequent and severe attacks of asthma. Active exercise of any kind causes severe pain and palpitation of his heart and compels him to stop all work or exercise to regain composure of his heart." Dr. R.J. Nestor wrote that "Only occasionally can he get a good nights rest as he is not able to lie down -- frequently he must sit in a chair the whole night long and nearly every night until past midnight."

The Hudson Bank sent letters of support in Ellen's pension claim. National Archives

The Meyerses returned to Somerset in the spring of 1891 and remained for a month, visiting relatives and old friends, among them Abraham Faith and Joseph Zimmerman. They were plunged into grief on Feb. 22, 1893, when their youngest child Hattie died at the age of just one month.     

In 1904, when Ellen was named in Isaiah Van Metre's book History of Black Hawk County, Iowa and Representative Citizens, she dwelled in Black Hawk County.

Henry spent the last few years of his life afflicted with "pernicious anemia" -- a decrease in his red blood cells. As the condition worsened, he was confined to his bed, and Dr. Cecil C. Grant came for a visit. Henry passed into eternity at the age of 67 on Aug. 18, 1915. A lengthy obituary in the Courier spelled his last name as "Myers." Funeral services were held in the family church, with burial following in Hudson Cemetery. On his official Iowa certificate, signed by daughter Anna Belle Raber, she was unable to state the names of her father's parents.

Ellen became eligible to receive her late husband's pension, and on her behalf, Hudson Savings Bank cashier C.W. Beford wrote letters to the commissioner of pensions in Washington, DC, and Ellen's sisters Hattie Shaulis amd <artja Weuamd among others signed affidavits. Her paperwork was approved on Sept. 23, 1915. [Widow App. #1.053.429 - Cert. #801.234]

Ellen hosted a reunion of the Meyers family at her home in Hudson on June 29, 1930, Among those attending, said the Courier, were Lloyd Meyers and family of Stockton, CA; George Meyers and family of Dodge City, MN; Alvin Reid McMillin and family of Waterloo; Joan and Ellen Meyers of Savannah, MO; and Fred Waltman and family of Hudson.

Suffering from asthma, Ellen became seriously ill in February 1934. She lingered for two months and succumbed to the Angel of Death on April 17, 1934, at the age of 82.

Several years later, Ellen and Henry were identified as "pioneer residents" of Hudson in the 1938 Courier obituary of their daughter Anna Belle Raber.

Son Charles R. Albright (1870- ? ) was born in July 1870 or 1871 in Somerset County, PA. He was very young when his parents' marriage ended, and he was taken in and raised by his mother's parents in Jefferson Township. Charles later relocated to Iowa. When the U.S. Census was taken in 1900, the unmarried Charesl boarded in the home of a step-cousin, Henry and Minnie Shaulis in Hudson, Black Hawk County. He eventually settled in the community of Waukon, Allamakee County. At the age of 38, in about 1909, he was united in matrimony with 18-year-old Rose Beutler (1890- ? ), a native of Wisconsin and the daughter of Fred Beutler, a Swiss immigrant. There was a 20-year age gap between the pair. The Albrights produced four offspring -- Edna Presho, Ralph Albright, Henry Albright and Anna Wagner. The federal census enumeration of 1930 shows Charles and Rose as tenant farmers in Fairview Township, Allamakee County, with rose's 74-year-old widowed father under their roof. Charles was in Waukon at the death of his mother in 1934.

  • Granddaughter Edna Albright (1909- ? ) was born in about 1909 in Iowa. She married (?) Presho.
  • Grandson Ralph Albright (1910- ? ) was born in about 1910 in Iowa.
  • Grandson Henry Albright (1913- ? ) was born in about 1913 in Iowa.
  • Granddaughter Anna Albright (1917- ? ) was born in about 1917 in Iowa. She wedded (?) Wagner.

Daughter Caroline J. "Carrie" Meyers (1876-1948) was born on Aug. 23, 1876 in Somerset, Somerset County. When she was about eight years of age, she joined her parents in a migration to Iowa, settling in Black Hawk County. She remained in the area for the 64 years until death. The day after Christmas 1906, the 31-year-old wedded 31-year-old Alvin Reid McMillin (Jan. 19, 1876-1952), the son of William R. and Emma (Wenner) McMillin and a native of Illinois. Rev. H.G. Beeman officiated, with the ceremony held in Waterloo. At the time of the marriage, Alvin was a farmer of Dunkerton, IA who had attended Iowa State College in Ames. The couple produced two children -- Annetta McMillin and Irene Kirby. For their married lives, spanning four-plus decades, they were farmers on a tract located two miles east of St. Francis Hospital and 1.5 miles north of Route 20 near Waterloo, an area thought to be known as Dewar. Carrie belonged to the Walnut Street Baptist Church, while Alvin was a member of the Church of the Open Bible. Grief blanketed the family when Carrie died on Oct. 20, 1948, terminating their marriage which had endured for 42 years. Alvin remained a widower for about two years and then on Jan. 3, 1951, wedded Clara Glaspie ( ? - ? ) in nuptials held at Waterloo. The second marriage was short-lived, lasting only 15 months. Without warning, Alvin suffered a heart attack at home at the age of 76 and died on April 12, 1952. An obituary was printed in the Waterloo Courier.

  • Granddaughter Annetta McMillin was in Washington, DC in 1948-1952.
  • Granddaughter Irene McMillin married (?) Kirby. Her home circa 1948-1952 was in Hyattsville, MD.

Son George Alber Meyers (1878- ? ) was born on Sept. 4, 1878 in Somerset, Somerset County. Single at the age of 30, in 1910, he lived at home and earned income as a hired farmhand laboring wherever work was available. At the age of 33, on Jan. 31, 1911, he married 23-year-old Maud Pickinpaugh ( ? - ? ), daughter of Josiah and Ella (Fowler) Pickinpaugh. Officiating at the nuptials was Rev. J.H. Bauernfeind. His home in 1934 was Claremont, MN and in 1938-1948 was in Dodge Center, MN.

Daughter Margaret G. "Maggie" Meyers (1881-1946) was born on March 14, 1881 in Somerset, Somerset County. She made the move to Iowa with her parents when she was age three, in about 1884, and grew up on a farm near the town of Hudson. On Sept. 20, 1899, she was joined in the bonds of wedlock with Frederick J. Waltman ( ? - ? ), age 22, a farmer of Hudson, Black Hawk County. He was German and the son of George and Nergine (Seufferlein) Waltman. Rev. A.K. Lewis led the wedding ceremony. A story about the wedding, in the Waterloo Courier, reported that "The bride was attired in a lovely white dress with lace and ribbon trimming and carried bride's roses. The groom was attired in conventional black... This young couple have the best wishes of a large circle of friends." They became the parents of one daughter, Florence Lydon. During their married lives, the Waltmans resided on a farm northwest of Hudson. In 1929, Margaret served as president of a delegation from Black Hawk County to the ninth annual convention of Tri-County Rebekah Association, affiliated with the International order of Odd Fellows. She also was a member of the Good Luck Club and the Federated Church. Margaret's health began a long decline, and at the end she was admitted as a patient to Presbyterian Hospital near Waterloo. She died there on Nov. 20,. 1946. An obituary in the Waterloo Courier noted that interment of the remains was in Greenwood Cemetery in Cedar Falls, IA.

  • Granddaughter Florence Waltman married (?) Lydon.

Daughter Mary Elizabeth "Bessie" Meyers (1883-1917) was born on Feb. 26, 1883 in Somerset County. On Sept. 28, 1904, she was united in matrimony with John F. Hudson ( ? - ? ), a farmer from Hudson, Black Hawk County and the son of Timothy and Fanny Holland. Rev. J.F. Esker, a minister of the Baptist Church, performed the rites. The couple is known to have produced children. Mary Elizabeth is known to have lived in 1915 in Frederick, SD, when she returned to Waterloo to visit her widowed mother. Sadly, Mary Elizabeth was cut away by the Grim Reaper in 1917. The cause of her passing is not yet known. Interment of the body was in Hudson Cemetery. Many years later, her mother later bequeathed funds for the Holland offspring.

Daughter Anna Belle Meyers (1886-1938) was born on Jan. 13, 1886 in Waterloo, Black Hawk County, IA. Single in 1910, at the age of 24, she resided with her parents. She was joined in marriage on June 4, 1913 with 40-year-old railway agent S. "Elmer" Raber ( ? - ? ), son of Samuel and Sarah Ann (Lee) Raber. Baptist pastor Rev. E. Bodenham officiated. At the time, Elmer worked in Savannah, Andrew County, MO, and it was his second marriage. They established a home in Savannah and were the parents of a son, Max Raber. They also raised a niece, Ellen Meyers. In December 1931, she is known to have traveled to Waterloo for the funeral of her uncle, Simon Shaulis. Sadly, Anna Belle was diagnosed with cancer of the uterus. She underwent a hysterectomy in August 1938, but there was no hope for a recovery. The 52-year-old died on Oct. 21, 1938 in her home. An obituary was printed in the Waterloo Courier, with burial taking place in Savannah.

  • Grandson John/Max Raber lived in Hudson in 1938.
  • Granddaughter Ruth/Ellen Raber was deceased by 1938.

Son John Henry Meyers (1888- ? ) was born on April 26, 1888 in Black Hawk County. He lived in Black Hawk Township in 1934. He migrated to California and in 1938-1948 was in Farmington, CA.

Son Lloyd Edgar "L.E." Meyers (1890- ? ) was born on Sept. 26, 1890 in Black Hawk County. He was employed in young adulthood as a "traveling man" and stationed in Fort Dodge, IA. At the age of 27, two days after Christmas 1915, he wedded 28-year-old Marie Lawson ( ? - ? ), of Ellsworth, KS and the daughter of Andy and Carrie (Bly) Lawson. Rev. Hector C. Leland officiated at the nuptials. Circa 1938-1948, he lived in Stockton, CA.

 

~ Daughter Martha "Mattie" Weyand ~

Daughter Martha "Mattie" Weyand (1853-1937) was born on Sept. 14, 1853 in Somerset County, PA.

She never married and in 1883, at age 30, settled with her parents in Iowa near the town of Hudson in Black Hawk County. She remained in the local area for the balance of her life.

In 1900, at the age of 46, she lived with her father and step-mother in Waterloo, in a house on West Fourth Street, and earned income as a dressmaker.

Again in 1904, when named in the book History of Black Hawk County, Iowa and Representative Citizens, she lived at home.

Little is known of her adult years. Her address in 1937 was 1017 Fifth Street West in Waterloo.

On the fateful day of Oct. 19, 1937, Martha's clothing caught fire as she was cooking breakfast on her gas stove. She was badly burned on her right shoulder and legs and was rushed to Presbyterian Hospital. Her case was beyond hope, and the 84-year-old succumbed on Oct. 25, 1937. Burial was in Orange Township Cemetery in Black Hawk County, after a funeral preached by Rev. Dr. Will Bowers of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. [Find-a-Grave] An obituary in the Waterloo Courier noted that she "was the last of her family" and that she was survived by six nephews and six nieces, all living in Waterloo and Orange Townships.

Under the terms of her will, she left her estate to her nieces and nephews. A story in the Waterloo Courier of Oct. 28, 1937 gave the particulars: one-sixth each to William E. Shaulis and Flora Keefe -- one-twelfth each to Ada Hatch, Anna Queer and Frank Shaulis -- one-twenty-fourth each to Lloyd Meyers, John Meyers, George Meyers, Carrie McMillin, Maggie McMillin and Anna Raber -- one-twenty-fourth jointly to Frances Holland, Lewis Holland, Louisa Holland and Vera Holland;  and also to Rose Albright, Edna Albright, Ralph Albright, Henry Albright and Anna Albright.

 

Mary's illegible grave marker, Lavansville, PA
Courtesy Dan Floyd

~ Daughter Mary A. (Weyand) Shaulis ~

Daughter Mary A. Weyand (1856-1882) was born on June 21, 1856 in Jefferson Township, Somerset County.

During the mid-1870s, Mary wedded David Shaulis (June 28, 1855-1930), son of Jacob D. and Susanna (Gardner) Shaulis.

The Weyand and Shaulis families were close. Mary's sister Harriet "Hattie" Weyand married David's kinsman, Simon Shaulis, son of Emanuel Adam and Julia Ann (Harsh) Shaulis, sometimes misspelled "Shauley." 

The couple produced two children during their short-lived marriage -- William Edward Shaulis and Florence "Flora" Keefe.

By 1880, the marriage ended in divorce, and David remarried to Caroline (1859- ? ).

When the federal census was enumerated in 1880, the 24-year-old Mary and her two-year-old son William were in Iowa, residing in Orange Township, Black Hawk County with her married sister Hattie Shaulis and family. David and his second family were back in Somerset County, with him earning a living as a cooper, and three-year-old Mary Philips under their roof.

Sadly, at the age of only about 25, Mary passed away  in Somerset Township on Feb. 11, 1882. The cause of her untimely death is not yet known. Her remains were lowered into eternal rest in Salem Reformed Church Cemetery in Somerset Township, a burying ground also known as Lavansville Reformed Cemetery. A one-sentece obituary in the Somerset Herald provided Mary's precise age as 26 years, seven months and 20 days and date of death and gave her parents' names, although it mis-named her mother as "Martha."

 

Somerset Herald, Feb. 15, 1882
Courtesy Library of Congress

A marker was erected at the grave, bearing her maiden name "Weyand" and not the married name. The carving featured a hand pointing toward heaven, a motif common in that era, including among Pennsylvania German families. The inscription on the marker today is virtually illegible. However, in 1934, during the grip of the Great Depression, laborers with the Works Progress Administration -- a popular "New Deal" program of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's to put unemployed men back to work -- surveyed the names on the graves at Salem Reformed and recorded Mary's name and month and year of death.

Her son William remained in Iowa, where he apparently was raised by members of the family. The daughter Florence went to live with Mary's parents until she, too, moved to Iowa.

 

Somerset Herald, May 1, 1889
Courtesy Library of Congress

Ex-husband David J. Shaulis lived for nearly five decades more. He and his brother George got into serious trouble in 1889 during a complicated dispute after their father had been married to a second wife, Belinda, for about three years. David's father was considered the wealthiest farmer in the area, and he and Belinda resided in what one newspaper called an old-fashioned, red farmhouse on the brow of a hill commanding a view of their acreage. Fifteen rods away -- about 250 feet -- David and his wife and brother George and his wife and families dwelled in a newly built frame house of one and a half stories. In addition to natural bad blood between two men and their wives against the stepmother, jealousy turned darker when Belinda became pregnant, with the brothers fearing their share of the estate would diminish accordingly. The father once took a bag of flour into a local physician's office, asking him to check it for poison, fearing his sons were trying to kill him. The father also learned of four notes he allegedly had signed, promising to repay his sons in amounts of thousands of dollars each, and declaring them forged and having the fraudulent documents removed from all references in the county prothonotary's office.

Then one morning in late April 1889, the father went missing in the early morning, and Belinda directed David to go looking. Then after milking the cows, as Belinda was walking in the farm yard with David's wife, she was shot in the back by an unknown assailant. She cried out and staggered home while the daughter-in-law continued on as though nothing had happened. As she awaited medical help in her home, David arrived after a lengthy delay and told the awful news that the father 's body had been found "cold in death, suspended by a small flaxen cord from the limb of a tree on his farm, a short distance from his dwelling house," reported the Somerset Herald. "Whether the old farmer took his own life, or was foully murdered by those whose greatest pleasure it should have been to guard and tenderly care for him in his declining years, remains a mystery." Belinda's wound was dressed, and physicians found that the bullet had exited the body through the breast, and that she would recover. Belinda naturally suspected that her stepsons were behind the shooting. Authorities found David's story incongruent, and discovered missing guns from his and George's dwellings. The two were arrested, even though George had been in Somerset on the morning in question. In a lengthy investigative story, the Herald went on to say that:

The scene at the Shaulis homestead this afternoon beggars description. A half hundred of the neighbors had gathered in the little old house where the dead man was being prepared for burial, while all over the farm groups of a half-dozen men were collected discussing the horrible tragedy... While neither of the prisoners opened their lips in their own behalf, a number of their neighbors volunteered to enter into security for any amount for their appearance [in court] next week, if they could only be permitted to witness the last sad rites over their father's body. But the law is dear to all entreaties, and whenthe two poor, miseeable creatures were placed upon a single horse and headed for prison, accused with the atrocious crime of a father's murder and the attempted murder of his wife, it required a heart of stone to look upon the scene and remain unmoved.... The sentiment of the neighbors is very much divided as to the guilt of the young men. While the surrounding circumstances point very strongly toward David  as having shot his father's wife and many maintain who know of the bitter feeling existing between the two households that he assisted his father in adjusting the noose around his neck, some few going so far as to intimate that he choked his father to death and then humg him on the limb where he was found. Others insist that the father was of infirm mind and was given to brooding over the loss of fortune that has recently overtaken him to a limited extent, and that while suffering from a fit of despondency took his own life.

Farmers Frederick Shaulis, Peter F. Shaulis, Philip H. Walker and Conrad Miller each put up bond money for the brothers' release so they could return home for the funeral. Stories were made public that the father had tried to drown the wife in Laurel Hill Creek. The brothers were charged with coercing their father into suicide, and were imprisoned in the county jail, said by a news reporter to have been "but little more secure than a pig-stye, and was as foul smelling." The outcome of their trial is not yet known, but he was a free man by 1905.

David married a third time to Malinda Barron ( ? - ? ). He spent the balance of his life as a farmer -- "tiller of soil," in the words of a family member. In September 1894, his daughter Anna was admitted to the School for the Deaf and Dumb in Edgewood near Pittsburgh. Then in June 1905, while cutting a tree, he was injured when a limb fell on his body. Burdened at the age of 74 with congestive heart failure and "dropsy" (buildup of fluids), he died on Feb. 23, 1930. Interment was in Samuels Cemetery, near Lavansville, with Rev. H.M. Petrea officiating. Samuel Shaulis was the informant for the official Pennsylvania certificate of death. An obituary in the Somerset Daily Herald named not only his children from the first marriage (with Flora's name misspelled as "Cora") but also from the later marriage(s) -- Arthur Shaulis and Clara Crissey (at home) and Alice A. Fritz and Mary Stapleton (both in Ligonier, PA).

Daughter Florence "Flora" Shaulis (1876-1948) was born in about 1876 in Pennsylvania. When her parents divorced, Florence was taken in by her grandparents, Samuel and Mary (Umberger) Weyand of Somerset County, and is shown there circa 1880. She too migrated to Iowa and lived in Waterloo, Black Hawk County and then in Oskaloosa, Mahaska County. A story in the Marshalltown (IA) Times-Republican in 1902 reported that she had undergone surgery for a tumor in Singleton Hospital, that she worked as "a Pilgrim dining room girl" and that while her parents lived in Waterloo, "for a number of hears she has resided in this city." In 1907, she made news in the gossip columns of the Waterloo (IA) Courier when traveling from Oskaloosa to Waterloo to visit her brother. She was united in wedlock with (?) Keefe ( ? - ? ). The couple did not reproduce, and the husband's fate is not yet known. Marked by a census-taker as widowed, Florence made a home in St. Paul, Ramsey County, MN in 1930 and 1940. Her occupation in 1930 was as a pastry cook in a cafe at a bus depot. She was still in St. Paul in 1947 at the death of her brother William when she was named in his newspaper obituary. Her address at that time was 31 Iglehart Avenue. Sadly, at the age of 71 on St. Patrick's Day 1948, she suffered a heart attack and died in St. Paul. Her remains were shipped to Waterloo's Kearns Garden Chapel for funeral services. A brief death notice was printed in the Courier and a listing of her passing in the Minneapolis Star.

Son William Edward Shaulis (1877-1947) was born on Jan. 6, 1877 or 1878 in Pennsylvania. He was very young when his parents divorced. As a two-year-old, he and his mother resided in the home of an aunt and uncle, Hattie and Simon Shaulis, in Orange, Black Hawk County, IA. He appears to have remained in the Waterloo area for the rest of his life. Circa 1899-1900, he was employed by a local contractor named Smith, working as a carpenter and well known for his integrity and hard work. On Valentine's Day 1900, when he was 22 years of age, William was joined in marital union with Carrie Bertch ( ? -1940). The ceremony was held in the home of William's grandparents in Waterloo, led by Rev. Gillen of the Progressive Lutheran Church. "At eight o'clock the wedding march was played by Carl Pray, and the bride and groom preceded by the minister marched through an aisle which was made by two little ribbon girls, nieces of the bride," reported the Waterloo Courier. "The bridal party stood under a floral bell of smilax... The bride was handsomely dressed in a gown of white satin and she carried white bride's roses. The young couple were the recipients of many presents, rugs, chairs, tables, glassware and many other useful articles were received." Two daughters were born to this union -- Ruth Cory and Vera Briden. The couple initially lived on a farm in Eagle Township. Then in about 1908, they moved to a farm in Waterloo Township, remaining there for three decades. At his 45th birthday in 1923, William was thrown a surprise party by friends from the old Cedar Falls Road. Carrie's nieces Dorothy and Darlien Bertch provided music, with Vera Shaulis giving readings. William is known to have made a living over the years as a building contractor. For 24 years, he also served as the elected assessor for Waterloo Township, on the Republican ticket, and for a time as a township trustee. He was a member of the Elks Club and was active with the local Farm Bureau. The couple celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary in 1938 with a gathering for friends in their home. Reported the Courier, "The anniversary party was also a farewell courtesy, for the couple is moving from the farm to Waterloo on March 1." Sadly, Carrie died on Aug. 27, 1940, ending their marriage which had endured for four decades. Rev. Harry J. Moore, of the Westminster Presbyterian Church, officiated at the funeral service, with interment in Elmwood Cemetery. Reported the Courier, her pallbearers were H.A. Degener, A.J. Hansen, Floyd Bell, J.J. Kelley, George Strayer and O.L. Harner. William survived his wife by seven years and moved in with his married daughter in Janesville, IA. Having borne heart problems, death carried William away on Feb. 18, 1947. An obituary in the Courier named both parents and said he had "moved here when he was very young."

  • Granddaughter Ruth Shaulis ( ? - ? ) was born in (?). She wedded (?) Cory ( ? - ? ). She dwelled in La Porte City, IA in 1947 and Jesup, IA in 1948.
  • Granddaughter Vera Shaulis ( ? - ? ) was born in (?). She married Eldon Briden ( ? - ? ). Circa 1947, they lived in Janesville, IA, and provided a final home for her aged, ailing father.

 

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Minerd.com extends gratitude to Dan Floyd for sharing vital material and images about this family.