Uncle W. Scott APPLEBACH in the newspapers

 Uncle W. Scott APPLEBACH in the newspapers

The below articles are ones that I have found for WS APPLEBACH in the first quarter of the 1900's. 

Within the family, he was remembered by his peers as having a short fuse, possibly a drinker but a sometimes bouncer in Lancaster bars during the 1940s-1960s, a wife beater, childless, and prone to look for trouble to get into. 

In case you need a reminder, Winfield SCOTT and Zachary TAYLOR, were contemporaries that were both heroes during the war we had with Mexico in the 1840's over Texas. They were known as "Fuss and Feathers". It is ironic that these APPLEBACH twins were named that forty years later by a couple that rarely, if ever, left southeastern Penn - especially Lancaster County, PA.

In 1906, Scott married Mabel OVERLY. He would have been 19 or 20.

Scott and Mabel married in July and had a daughter on Dec. 29, 1906. Her name was Catherine APPLEBACH. I have not done enough research yet to find out if she died, or just disappeared from sight after the divorce in 1911. 

But this proves that he had at least one child, but for whatever reason the older family I had contact with always said he was childless.

In 1908, Scott appeared in court for paying support to his wife. One says $3 a week and the other $2 a week.

In the 1910 census, Mabel and Catherine APPLEBACH are listed as living with Mabel's parents in Ephrata, PA.

Finally in 1911, Mabel had enough and divorced Scott.

In September of 1912, he remarried. I do have vague memories of Aunt Eva (MOYER) APPLEBACH. During an interview before she died, she told me that Scott and her never had children. She also stated that he would disappear for weeks or months at a time, and then show back up with no explanation of where he had been. She admitted he was violent and did "hit" her when he was around.

Here is the marriage notice that was in the newspaper.

By all accounts, Scott and his twin Taylor stayed in touch and did many activities together as adults.

The US got into the ongoing war in Europe in 1917. WWI took the lives of many US males, and permanently affected many more. Patriotism and "kill the Hun" was the feeling of the day for many folks in the US, and whether drafted or volunteered, the "boys" seemed to want to go.

Scott APPLEBACH was sent to Camp (Ft.) Dix, NJ in Sept. 1918.

He apparently arrived there just in time to probably get the Spanish Flu. See the previous post for more info on this.

Scott must have been able to return to some duty in November - hence the promotion and new duty location.

At Christmas time 1918, Scott was in Lancaster for a visit. The newspaper notes he is at Camp Dix. Without access to his military record, it is impossible to know if he had a relapse in health, had cancelled orders to NY, or what exactly happened that he is still at Camp Dix and not in NY.

In Oct. 1920, he and Eva are listed as having attended a birthday party for his mom.

In 1922, Scott and Taylor were playing in a pinochle league.

In 1923, Scott is involved in the Eagles.

Both Gr-uncle Scott and Taylor (Pop) APPLEBACH were cut from the same cloth. I remember them both as bullies, and very full of themselves. 

Per stories told by Aunt Fran (APPLEBACH) WOODS, Grandma Jennie would not allow Scott in her house because he "drank so much" and was unkind to her. I would say that to some extent this is shown by the news articles and my notes of the memories of those who knew him much longer than I did.

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

SCOTT W. APPLEBACH & THE SPANISH FLU

SCOTT W. APPLEBACH & THE SPANISH FLU

I have racked my brain for references that I remember about older relatives discussing the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. It had to be an important event for anyone alive in 1918, but it is a void as far as my memories from listening to older folks talk. 

On vacation in 2023, while haunting bookstores I found this book. There was an entire chapter on Ft. Dix, NJ and the mess the Spanish Flu caused there. Ft. Dix rang a bell in my brain. After going through several files, I realized that Uncle Scott APPLEBACH had been at Ft. Dix during the right time.

I have not even tried to get his military records. The website Fold 3 showed me he had been in the Army during WWI. His enlistment ran from Sept. 6, 1918 to Jan. 18, 1919.

Ancestry.com had his enlistment card from 1917. I found all kinds of stuff for his marriages but only 3 items to do with his military service.

So, I thought the best place to see about him during this time frame might be Newspapers.com because the personal columns tended to have all kinds of hometown news.

Jackpot...

I did not find anything that specifically said Scott had Spanish Flu and survived it, but there is evidence that it is very possible.

The first mention that he may have been sick was in the Lancaster newspaper on Oct. 7, 1918. Per his mom, Elizabeth APPLEBACH, he was in Ft. Dix and had "recovered from his recent illness and was able to leave the hospital." 

By November 1918, Scott APPLEBACH was able to make a weekend trip back to Lancaster.

Another news article in November 1918 is about his promotion as a "very plucky soldier". Considering he did not see active duty in Europe - he was only in 4 months - he had to have done something else of importance. Per the definition of plucky on Google, the word in 1918 meant "someone demonstrating a tenacious spirit that defied obstacles and hardships." During the Spanish Flu, people who survived it would have been a perfect ideal of this definition.

This next document shows APPLEBACH, Winfield as discharged on Jan. 18, 1919. He is listed in the left-hand column the fourth name down under "Private". This document does not appear to list anyone as died, only discharged or transferred.

America was in WW1 officially from April 6, 1917 to Nov. 11, 1918. After that anyone who could be discharged would have been, and for people with long term health issues this would have been a good answer to get them out of the military, especially if they had no interest in remaining in. 

Plus he went in as "limited service" men for classified work per another article in the Lancaster newspaper dated Sept. 7, 1918. I am not sure what "limited service" meant but I think I have heard it referred to as for a limited reason or time. Maybe at a later date I can do more research on this because now I am really curious.

I found three documents on Ancestry.com that are about Uncle Scott's army days. One was the enlistment card earlier in this post. The other two have to do with his filing for compensation from the Army, both are dated 1934. 

The above document says Scott was expecting to get $40 for his four months of service.

All the sources have the same enlistment date and discharge date. The above application clearly says "Convalescent Center" as where he was stationed - that is not just a hospital, but a place for long term care. According to the book Pandemic 1918 most people who got the Spanish Flu and survived took weeks or months to recover enough strength to even attempt "normal" life activities.

I believe it is very possible that Uncle Scott APPLEBACH survived the Spanish Flu. Getting his military record would prove it, or not. But considering the time frame it is likely.

ORGANIZING THE CHAOS

 ORGANIZING THE CHAOS

Source: Bing clip art

I am confessing right now to a mountain of family papers and pictures. Time for filing has been at a minimum the last several months.

What genealogy time I could make was spent searching on two family members: Winfield Scott APPLEBACH, and Susanna BOEHM.

I have dug around through Family Search, Ancestry, Fold 3, Newspapers.com, and Google collecting all the info possible. And worse, it has been saved as both digital and paper. Can we say no real organization?

This morning I decided it was time to tackle the issue and organize the chaos now that I have two computer screens to work with again.

I find it so much easier to have a file open on one computer screen while I move documents and photos into it from the second screen.

Since I actually have computer files for these two people already, it was easier to start with the downloads that were on the computer. So, two and half hours later, the APPLEBACH and BOEHM files have been updated. One success!

Now to the second part of this mess. So, the first step was making piles of all the last names. Obviously, this mess started before limiting my search to just the two above names. Seven stacks later, I look at the clock and realize that time is quickly passing.

I pull the BOEHM and APPLEBACH folders and piles of papers out of the stacks. It makes sense to me to start with the "A" family. 

More stacks by first name within the "A" family yields 10 piles of miscellaneous papers. Well ok, I found the two divorce decrees of my grandfather from his first and second wife. That is progress...

Another hour passes as I continue adding papers to the correct stacks by first name. Now I have 10 file folders of 10 individuals. Some of the files need to be divided into two because they are bulging. A few only have one or two pieces of paper in them.

Back to Winfield Scott APPLEBACH - known to me as "Uncle Scott". His file needs to be divided - all that research paid off in the form of information. But what a mess to organize. 

Scanning in the documents will take more hours than I have today. However, I have been using a naming system that I like and will stick with. Surname-Firstname_yyyymmdd_Location_item.

Moral to the story:

Keep up on your filing - whether digital or paper. It requires much less time than all the sorting later on. I saw on a genealogy blog a suggestion for spending 15 minutes a day doing filing. It certainly makes more sense than the mess I am currently dealing with.

Source: Bing clip art

Tomorrow is a new day, and I have the papers I want to scan in sitting on the scanner already to go. I am going to have to do better at committing 15 minutes most days to scanning and organizing. Especially on the days I do not do any research.

Organize the chaos before it becomes chaos.

All the content writing of this post is my own unless I state otherwise.

FRUSTRATION OVER LOST PHOTO

Source: Bing clip art

FRUSTRATION OVER LOST PHOTO

Many years ago, my grandma gave me an old newspaper article about great uncle John W. APPLEBACH. It was a neat article with a write up about his chair caning business, and his singing at church revivals in the area.  It also had a photo of him.

I have spent all week looking for this article.  I am sure it is here but where is the question of the week.  I have carefully checked all the APPLEBACH/AFFLERBACH paper files. I have been going through the computer files of documents and photos.  Nothing.

Today I finally just said enough - I will stumble on it unexpectedly down the road.  I wanted to add the photo of him to his memorial on Find A Grave, which is how the search started last week.

What I did discover is a computer file that my hubby spent a lot of time scanning in old photos.  Instead of a file name, there is only a date.  None of the scanned images have names or titles only the scanning number.  I am thrilled for his help and am not complaining.  But I am not thrilled to not have noticed this file before or changed all those scan numbers to real names.  Sheesh.....another project.

Note to self: follow your own advice. See this post on cleaning and organizing.

Source: Unknown relative

So, before I go any further into research I now need to go back to this file and get the scans named and organized by family and person. 

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

 

DEATH AFFIDAVITS INVOLVING JOHN W. APPLEBACH 1878-1943

DEATH AFFIDAVITS INVOLVING JOHN W. APPLEBACH 1878-1943

I was recently able to get the death affidavits for both of John APPLEBACH's two wives from the Lancaster County Archives. Death affidavits can give more information about the death of the named person, even if there is a regular death certificate. 

Since I personally do not have death certificates for either wife, getting these was helpful - even if only for the dates.

See this post for more info on the archives:  Lancaster County Family Ties : RESOURCES AT THE LANCASTER ARCHIVES . I would encourage anyone looking for info from Lancaster County, PA to view the indexes of documents available.  The archives have a treasure trove of stuff for family historians.

John was blind.  He supported himself as a chair caner. He also was well known in the Lancaster area for his singing at churches and revivals.

I do not know when he married his first wife Elizabeth, but she died in Jan. 3, 1926 and is buried at Millersville Mennonite Cemetery.  No children have ever been mentioned. Her death affidavit is below and John signed it with a mark.

John then married Katie FOX who was a widow since Oct. 1924.  She was the daughter of Conrad and Magdalena OLLENDORFER/OTTENDORFER. Their marriage license is #5079 and occurred in June 1926.

The bottom of my copy of the marriage license is cut off too - what you see is what I have.

Katie shows up the Lancaster City Directory after this listed as John's wife. They live at the same address. John's mom, Elizabeth APPLEBACH, apparently lived with them and shows up in the directories at the same address (647 High Street) until her death.

John died in 1943 and is buried at Millersville Mennonite Cemetery. Here is his obit and death cert.  To see his memorial on Find A Grave, go here.

Katie APPLEBACH did not remarry after John's death. She made up a will in 1946 giving everything she owned to friend Catherine DANZ (married last name HERR). From this I would say there were no children from either of her marriages to leave anything to.

Here is the death affidavit of Katie APPLEBACH in 1948.

She is memorial #15467189 on Find A Grave.  She is buried in Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Lancaster. 

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

APPLEBACHSVILLE, PA IN THE NEWSPAPER 21August 1949 and SOME INFO ON THE TOWN ITSELF

APPLEBACHSVILLE, PA IN THE NEWSPAPER 21August 1949 and SOME INFO ON THE TOWN ITSELF

This is the second article involving Applebachsville, PA that Aunt Fran gave me.  It was in the Philadelphia newspaper. Following the article is info on Applebachsville from a book.

The article is titled: Latvian Refugees Find New Life in Bucks County Community

The article basically speaks of how the small village is going from Pennsylvania Dutch (with associated names) to a place of refuge for Latvian refugees after WWII. The article is interesting and well worth reading.

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Info on Applebachsville - according to the book, "Place Names in Bucks County Pennsylvania" by George MACREYNOLDS on page 8-10:

• Applebachsville is a village on the Bethlehem Road in northwestern Haycock Township.  The land the village is on was apparently originally named Stokes Tract or Stokes Meadow as it was owned by the STOKES family from approximately 1735-1837. 
• The land was sold to George F. DUTCH in 1837. His son (not named in  book) owned the land in 1842 and sold it to the APPLEBACH brothers in 1847.
• Gen. Paul APPLEBACH and his brother Henry in 1847 were already successful in the horse and cattle business.  They laid out part of the tract in building plots on both sides of the Bethlehem Road in 1848. Soon there were 30 brick homes along the road.  A daily stage went through between Bethlehem and Philadelphia.
• The post office was established in 1874. 
• The Lutheran church was built in 1855.  Paul and William APPLEBACH were part of the building committee.
• The family was started by immigrant Johan Heinrich AFFLERBACH who was from Wittgenstein, in Westphalia Germany, where they are said to have been manufacturers of iron. Johan Heinrich AFFLERBACH (who would become known as Henry APPLEBACH) embarked at Rotterdam on the ship Sally which arrived in Philadelphia on 29 Oct. 1770.  He gave his age as 31 and occupation as smith.
• He appears in Springfield Township in August 1775 on a roll of a company of Associators. He married Maria RENSHIMER, daughter of a nearby farmer. Their third son, Daniel, started the Haycock branch of the family. Daniel married Catherine APPLE 02 June 1811. Daniel became Justice of the Peace on 15 May 1833 and held the office until his death.
• Daniel and Catherine's three sons: Paul, Henry, and William were all prominent locally.

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

APPLEBACH, TILLIE of Applesbachsville, PA

As a teenager, my Aunt Fran gave me 2 articles about Applesbachsville, PA that had been in the Philadelphia newspaper in the 1940's.

The first one is this one about an auction that Tillie APPLEBACH had on Nov. 12, 1949 at her home in East Rockhill Township of Bucks Co, PA.  The article says that she is 77 and that she needed to get rid of a few things. The article goes on to say that she is the widow of Oscar APPLEBACH.

Page 1 of Article 

The article is a very interesting read of personalities, local culture, and a list of various items that were sold.

Page 2 

In the book, Six Afflerbach Emigrants Who Came to Pennsylvania and Their Descendants 1750-1930, by Jane K. THOMPSON is listed an Oscar APPLEBACH who was born in 1867 and later married Matilda ______ (pg. 73). According to the book, he was the son of Levi and Rachel (GREEUP) APPLEBACH.

Per the above listed book (pg. 103-104) Oscar is also stated to die in 1923.  He married Matilda in 1890 and they had these children: Preston, Harvey, Charles, William and Frederick.

Source: Find A Grave

According to the Find A Grave website, the memorial numbers are (Oscar) 92898702 and (Tillie) 92898712. Per the same source, her maiden name was ROSENBURGER and she died in 1957. They are buried at the Ridge Valley Cemetery in Sellersville, Bucks County, PA. The book by THOMPSON (listed above) also notes that Oscar's will is #29769 in Bucks Co wills of 1923.

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

PHOTOS FROM THE GARNER FAMILY 1940's

PHOTOS FROM THE GARNER FAMILY 1940's

I have been trying to utilize the last few days while required to stay home (due to corona virus pandemic) to go thru family photos and papers.

It seems a good idea to share a few photos from the 1940's from my album of photos for the Ben GARNER family.

Clyde GARNER died in 1956 from cancer.  His widow was Martha (LANDIS) GARNER and their two children were Linda and Larry.

Pauline (GARNER) APPLEBACH/HAHN 1937-2016 was four years old in the above photo.  Several photos were taken the same day so I think there must have been a family gathering at my grandparents house.

The note on the back of the above photo says it was taken at the Ben GARNER farm - 1943.

This photo was taken in the backyard at 1747 Temple Ave, Lancaster, PA in 1944 or 1945 from the size of Jerry.  The small white building to the left of the photo was the old chicken house converted into a "play house" for the children of the growing family.  

The family story is that the doctor was drunk when he delivered Uncle Jerry, and there was some never discussed injury to grandma. The apparent fear was that grandma would not be able to have more children. Three more were born after Jerry: Darlene, Cheryl, and Gloria. Also there was never any discussion that I remember of stillborn or miscarried babies.

The above photo is unusual because Grandma did not like her photo taken, she preferred to be taking the photo.  I remember her using a brownie camera until she could no longer get film for it, then she finally had to switch to another camera, I believe a Kodak Instamatic. 

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Note: I have been asked if I still have the original photos unlabeled - yes. All these photos are scanned into the computer, and those are backed up on an external hard drive.  Plus, I still have the original photo in my possession. If you are a family member who wants a copy of the original, please contact me directly.

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PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

APPLEBACH, ABRAM (or ABRAHAM) - 1860 AND 1870 CENSUS

APPLEBACH, ABRAM (or ABRAHAM) - 1860 AND 1870 CENSUS

Abram/Abraham APPLEBACH was born between 1848 and 1851 depending on the document you are looking at. His father was definitely Henry APPLEBACH.  His death certificate says his mother was Catherine STAHR, which is entirely possible.  However, I have also seen her name as Catherine CORNER.

His death certificate says he was born in  Feb. 1851 and he is not on the 1850 census. His mother appears to disappear from sight about the time of his birth.  His siblings appear in the 1860 census as living with other people.

In 1860, Abram was living with Samuel and Harriett MILTENBERGER in Monroe County, PA. He is listed as 10 years old and has been in school that year.

Source: Family Search

In 1870, Abram is listed as living in Northampton County, PA with Sam and Catherine SHIMER.  He is 22, and a farm laborer.

I do not have any information yet on how Abram APPLEBACH ended up in Lancaster County, PA by Dec. 1872 when he married Elizabeth LITTLE in Lancaster, PA. They would live the remainder of their lives in Lancaster County, PA.

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

JAMES & VADA APPLEBACH

JAMES & VADA APPLEBACH

Source: Ancestry 09/27/2022

Finally, I found the marriage certificate for my father and his second wife Vada. She was a sweet lady, and I enjoyed her happy spirit. 

My parents divorced on June 24, 1983. James APPLEBACH married again on August 26, 1985 to Vada JONES.

I was no longer in Montana when he remarried and chose to not attend. I find it interesting that they were married by Pastor TANNEHILL, who was a friend of both my parents.  No doubt mom felt very betrayed by that when she did find out.

It is interesting to me the untruths on the certificate that James gave. Birthplace of his father was listed as "unknown" - he was well aware of where Taylor Z. APPLEBACH was born. 

James is also listed as completing high school, but according to the high school records he dropped out during his senior year and did not go back. James did have some college, but it is unclear whether he did finish that. 

James would become an ordained minister in 1964. Mom told me he was always concerned that the lie of him graduating high school would be found out, and he would lose his ordination.

I believe Vada found out very quick that my father was not as nice as he wanted people to believe. He was a difficult person to be around. His siblings all believed that he had some sort of mental issues. 

My personal memories of him are seldom good. However, I find his family history interesting. And it took my ancestors to make me - nice or not.

James APPLEBACH died in January 2005 in Hood River, OR.

Vada died since 2010 in Oregon.  She had remarried so her last name would be changed, possibly to Henry.

Vada is listed on James' death cert as the receiver of his ashes. My sister was able to do some searching around the last time she was in Oregon. She was told that James' ashes were put in the river behind one of Vada's children's homes. 

Original Source: Ancestry

Source: Personal Collection

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.