GARNER, REBA - HER LIST OF BIRTHDAYS

Grandma was great about remembering birthdays and holidays - she sent cards out for all of them.  I found this list among mom's papers, but it is Grandma's hand writing.  There is no date or greeting.

The list covers birth dates for Pappy's siblings, parents, and paternal grandparents:

Benjamin Garner & Cora Mae Groff married April 14, 1906

Ralph Groff Garner   Aug. 5, 1906
Mary E Garner          Dec. 29, 1908
Ella Mae Garner        Nov. 29, 1910  (my note: married name Roop)
Clyde J. Garner         July 25, 1913
Lester C. Garner       May 28, 1915

Benjamin Franklin Garner       Aug. 20, 1885
Cora Groff Garner                   Aug. 13, 1887

Ben's parents:
Charles Garner 1863 - died 1943
Elizabeth Musser Garner 1864 - died 1925  (my note: Musser was her mom's maiden name)

GARNER, RALPH - HEALTH ISSUES 1967

As I was going thru the boxes of letters and photos trying to organize all of it, I ran across a letter written by Pappy to mom - I had never seen him write anything so this letter was special simply from that perspective.  I also found the letter from mom that Pappy was responding to.  Thought I would put both on here simply to share.  I remember Pappy reading the newspaper and his Bible without problems, obviously writing was not easy.

Mom's letter to her folks was four pages long, below is the paragraph asking about Pappy's health. It is dated 10 May 1967. It's hard to read because of the thin paper and being written on both sides:

"In June's letter (meaning June Kann, sister of Jim Applebach) she said she stopped at Watt & Shand's (Lancaster department store where Grandma worked) to see you Tuesday and you weren't there. Another saleslady said Daddy was sick....How is Daddy? Was he sick or is he sick? What is wrong? Get one of the kids to write if you can't."

Pappy responded on 20 May 1967:

"Dear Pauline.....I am Felling [feeling] Better naw [now] I was at the Dactar [Doctor] Friday and he said that I could go to work Monday = 22 He said brake [broke] a blood vesell [vessel] in my nose they did treatedit [treatment] with a electric rod At [at] Dactar [Doctor] Harnish office felling [feeling] much better naw [now] hope this find[s] yous all well naw [now] the wether [weather] here is 70 To day mother (I think he means Reba) can walk better naw [now] with ______ Daddy my test all came out ok no Hart[heart] trubell [trouble] my blood cant [count] all right sais [says=] Dr = Atkins"

A side note: around this time, grandma fell and broke her hip so I think that is what is being referred to "mother can walk better".

APPLEBACH, TAYLOR Z & MAY V or P (GROFF) - DIVORCE 1920

Taylor & May married in 1909. I remember his nasty temper - it apparently did not improve with age.  In 1920, physical abuse was not a usual reason for granting a divorce to the woman, so my thought is that the abuse was very severe.  I find it interesting that his mother wrote a statement about the abuse he dished out to May.

I do not know all the details but one of Grandma Garner (Reba) first cousins and I went to clean family tombstones in the fall of 1986, and he told me that when Taylor & Jennie lived in Conestoga he lived across the road.  Apparently the Applebach house had a large window in the living room and he saw Taylor push Jennie thru the glass window. So I have to think that abusive behavior to his wives (maybe children as well) was a normal action of his.

None of his children actually do use or have used the term "abuse" when describing Pop, however, they say or have said things such as "not nice", "mean", "yelled a lot", and "didn't love us" .  None of the children wanted to live with him and did whatever was necessary to leave home as soon as possible.  The daughters resented having to help care for him when he was older.

(Source of documents: Lancaster Archives)

Pg. 1

Pg. 2

Pg. 3

Pg. 4

Pg. 5

Pg. 6

Pg. 7

Pg. 8 - May's statement

Pg. 9 - Elizabeth Applebach's statement

Pg. 10

Pg. 11

Pg. 12

Pg. 13

Click on images to make them large enough to read.


12/7/2018: An interesting (at least to me) side note to this is that I have only been able to track down one Mamie Groff and she was the daughter of Noah and Ella (Wood) Groff.  This Mamie was born in 1888 (so only 2 years younger than Taylor).  If this Mamie is the correct one, she is descended through Martin and Anna (Kendig) Groff who was another son of "Swamp" John and Catherine (Eschleman) Groff  - meaning she would have been an distant relation to me on my maternal side.  Is Lancaster County the only place that family trees are so twisted and turned?

APPLEBACH, TAYLOR & MAGGIE (DOSTMAN) - DIVORCE 1908

When Taylor & Maggie married in March 1905, they had to have parents signature because both were minors.  I have to wonder if Maggie was pregnant, however, so far I have found no mention of this in documented history.  Mom told me that Grandma Jennie was convinced he had a son in Maryland. Did he??  Maggie being pregnant would be a reasonable reason for 2 minors to marry and both fathers sign the license but I honestly don't know.

A side note here would be that Aunt Romaine told me once that she met a man in downtown Lancaster who looked exactly like Pop (Taylor) when he was younger.  He seemed to know who she was and spoke a few words and walked off.  She had no idea who he was and never saw him again.  If he was a son of one of the twins (Taylor or Scott) so far I have found no documented evidence of that.

However, by Feb. 1906 he had deserted her and apparently moved back in with his parents and she to hers.

The divorce was granted on grounds of desertion in May 1908.

Below are the court papers (Source: the Lancaster Archives):

Pg. 1

Pg. 2

Pg. 3

Pg. 4

Pg. 5

Pg. 6

Pg. 7

Pg. 8

Pg. 9

Pg. 10

Pg. 11 - Maggie's statement

Pg. 12

Pg. 13 - Bessie (Applebach) Dostman's statement

 - Taylor's older sister

Pg. 14

Pg. 15 Statement of Annie Dostman - Maggie's mom

Pg. 16

Pg. 17

Pg. 18

Pg. 19

Each image can be made larger for reading purposes by clicking on the image.

12/7/2018:  There has been some thought over the years among various family members that Maggie Dostman and Bessie Applebach's husband William were siblings.  However, Dostman does not appear to be a common name in Lancaster so exactly how or why they appear in Lancaster for a short time and then disappear again has not yet been a research project for myself.

LETTERS FROM CORA GARNER

These 2 letters are the only ones that I found in among the papers and letters that mom kept that were from her grandma (my gr-grandma) Cora (Groff) Garner.  I just thought I would share them, if nothing else so others could see her handwriting.

Click on the images to make them big enough to actually read.

The first is dated Sept. 29, 1970 and was after a visit she made with Ralph & Reba Garner out to see us in Idaho.  The cut off word at the bottom is "never" as in "and never expect to see again."  Pappy & Grandma drove out to see us and brought Grammy Garner with them.

The second letter is dated Feb. 24, 1971. We saw her again on our trip to Lancaster in the summer of 1971, which she mentioned hoping we would make in the below letter.

REBA GARNER'S CABBAGE SLAW RECIPE

I have finally gone through all the letters  between my mom and grandma (Reba) and found this treasure among them. I had asked Grandma to write out this recipe for me. Since the recipe was stored in her head, and was not measured in cups and teaspoons, it took her several hours to make a batch while converting her "in my head" measurements to cups and teaspoons. I didn't take me long to memorized it, and then I lost the written copy.  I was glad to find it again among family papers.

  I just thought it would be fun to share - I still make this - but also so people can see grandma's hand writing.