============================================================================ Wife: Emma Berneice PFEIFFER #98 Married: 18 AUG 1928 in: South Bend (St. Joseph) IN Marr. Ceremony? Y/N: Y Divorced/Annulled/Separated: End Year: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Born: 15 DEC 1906 in: Bremen (Marshall) IN Church: Presbyterian in: Plymouth (Marshall) IN Died: 15 JAN 1997 in: Indianapolis (Marion) IN Cemetery: OAK LAWN MEM. in: Fishers (Hamilton) IN Other: in: Military: Occupation: Housewife Father: John C. PFEIFFER #97 Mother: Elscinda "El" STANLEY #96
Compiler requested that Emma (PFEIFFER) GILCHRIST send information re her early life in Marshall County, IN. The following is a synopsis of a letter Emma wrote in response to this request in October, 1995. Compiler has taken the liberty of reorganizing the information contained in that letter to group chronological events where possible: Emma Pfeiffer was born on December 15, 1906 as the seventh and last child of John and Elscinda Stanley Pfeiffer. There were three older brothers, Forest, I. Oliver, and Stanley; the older sisters were Viola (Mrs. Ray Cline), Oma (Mrs. LeRoy Carothers), and Anna (Mrs. Ray Padgett). The family home was in Marshall County.
Emma recalled that she was born about five miles west of Bremen on a
farm which the family referred to as "the island." She was not sure if the spot was really Jackson Island or an area nearby where there was a farm called "The Section." Her father, who was a barn builder, helped to construct a barn on the farm. Emma remembered that a good swing was put up in the barn for her to play on. The farm had an orchard of good apples and the family sold apples in the fall when the crop was large enough. There were quite a number of children in the area for play and good neighbors to help with harvesting and butchering. It was about three miles to school and the children rode in a "kid hack" (a horse-drawn school bus) or in a sleigh if there was snow.
It was when the family lived on this farm that Emma had her first ride
in an automobile. She recalled that a neighbor bought a car and the salesman took all the children in the neighborhood for a ride. She said they were about three deep in the back seat. It was here also that the family had its first telephone.
South of "the island" farm were the peppermint farms. In the summertime boys on their hands and knees would pull weed from the peppermint. It was hot, dirty work, but it helped to pay for school clothes and books. For some it helped to pay for college. Some of the peppermint farms made fortunes for the owners until the black, muck soil ran out of something the mint needed to grow well.
Emma was rather a "poorly" child, being sick a lot. (Later in life doctors asked if she had ever had rheumatic fever.) "One morning a
neighbor man came at sunrise, bundled me up from the cold and took me outside to look at the sun. He said something for a cure. I must have hated what he did for I was always threatened that they would call for him. The cure seems to have kept me for a long time...."
When Emma was seven or eight a neighbor girl died of Bright's disease. Emma said this was her first experience with death.
The family later moved to a farm about a mile east of Bremen on the corner where SR 331 comes from the south and turns west to go into Bremen. Emma recalled running to watch an airplane fly over. She also remembered the fun and good food when the threshers came. The children played until the men had eaten. The food was wonderful and plentiful. The one-room school in this
neighborhood was smaller and closer so that Emma could walk to school.
The huckster was someone Emma remembered fondly as he often gave a stick of candy or some fruit. Christmas was an orange and/or a sack of hard candy from school or church. One year she received a doll "who went to sleep. " She kept the doll until it was destroyed in the farmhouse fire.
Part of the dishes the girls used for play were the white glass caps out of the old fashioned lids used for canning or "most anything else that looked like cookware." Her mother kept geese until the gander got after Emma. All the children went barefoot in the summer and then "there was the ordeal of foot washing before bed." Her mother's mother (Eliza MORRIS) lived with the family part of the time that the family
lived east of Bremen. She brought her dining room table with her and the family story was that the walnut table was made from packing cases that some member of the family had brought from England. Emma's father "did some work on it so all seven children could get around it." Emma inherited the table.
By the time Emma entered Bremen High School her parents had moved into the town of Bremen. They lived in the northeast section where Bondurants and Cripes were neighbors. This house had electricity and indoor plumbing. The family were members of the Salem Evangelical church in Bremen. During high school Emma worked at Schlosser Brothers creamery. She graduated from BHS as the salutatorian of her class. After high school she worked as a teller in the Bremen State Bank until she
married.
Byron and Emma met on a blind date arranged by Emma's sister Anna and her husband. Byron was a boarder in the home of James Stanley, an uncle of Anna and Emma. Anna had met Byron during visits to the Stanley home and decided that Emma should meet him. They were married on August 18, 1928 in the church parsonage by Rev. Kaley, who was also the father of one of Emma's friends. They purchased a home on South Fellow Street in South Bend where they lived for several years.
After their retirement, the GILCHRISTs moved from their home in South Bend, IN to their farm in Argos (Marshall County) IN. A few years later, a wiring problem in the T.V. ignited a fire in the farm house. The house was damaged. The farm was sold, and the couple had a new home built on
State Road 10 just west of U.S. 31. This is the fire that Emma refers to in talking about the doll in her letter. Apparently, that doll had survived many, many years!
The reference to the Civil War Veteran who was an ancestor of Emma's was a brother to Eliza MORRIS and a great uncle of Emma's. Compiler requested veterans files (from National Archives, Nov. 1, 1995) on Cornelius MORRIS, a Union soldier who resided in Wakarusa, IN with his wife, Sally.
Emma remembered him coming to their house "...in summertime... Mom always wanted him to play the fiddle, "Marching Through Georgia."
Friday, 13 December 1996, Emma was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital in Indianapolis with congestive heart failure; she "celebrated" her 90th birthday there. She was moved from the hospital
to the nursing center section of American Village, where she and Byron had their independent living apartment. After regaining her strength, she was returned to their apartment in early January, and on 12 January 1997, she was reported to be progressing well.
Wednesday, 15 January 1997, Emma's son-in-law, J. Michael FROST, called compiler to inform her of Emma's death at 4:00 a.m. that day. Emma had suffered a severe stroke on Monday, then developed pneumonia. She never regained consciousness.
Emma GILCHRIST died at St. Vincent's Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. Compiler received the following obituary, taken from the "Indianapolis Star" by a friend, Mrs. Anne Leah BLACKWELL.
EMMA PFEIFFER GILCHRIST, 90, Indianapolis, died Jan. 15. She was a
member of the Argos (Ind.) Progress Club and the Green Township Home Economics Club. Memorial contributions may be made to Argos Community Library. Services: 11 a.m. Jan. 17 in Flanner & Buchanan Broad Ripple Mortuary. Burial: Oaklawn Memorial Gardens, Fishers. Survivors: husband Byron Gilchrist; daughters Dr. Mary A. Gilchrist, Janet A. Frost; sisters Omah R. Carothers, Martha Anna Padgett; two granddaughters.
The following obituary was mailed to compiler by Wilma (MOW) FOLTZ. The source was not specified, but the obituary undoubtedly comes from either the "Plymouth Pilot" in Plymouth, IN or the "Rochester Sentinel," in Rochester, IN, where Mrs. Foltz resides.
Children of Emma and Byron are Mary Alice GILCHRIST
and Janet Ann GILCHRIST, who married John Michael FROST.
Compiled by:Ann & Ernie Grubb
26-JAN-1998 Family Group Sheet Page 1
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Husband: George BEEHLER #120
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Born: 02 SEP 1820 in: Durkheim (Mt Heart) GERMANY
Church: in:
Died: 21 OCT 1912 in: Seattle (King) WA
Cemetery: in:
Other: in:
Military: Occupation:
Father: John Philip BUEHLER #12671
Mother: Catherine NEGLY #12672
Compiler has been unable to find extensive data on George BEEHLER. Family tradition has reported that the parents of Catherine BEEHLER, wife of David B. MOW, was the child of George and Mary BEEHLER/BUEHLER. There have been some reports that George and his family left Fulton County, IN sometime around 1855 and moved westward. Yet, George and Mary "BEEHLER" were enumerated in Fulton County, IN in 1870 and 1880. Compiler was able to find no other information about this couple after 1880 in Fulton County or in the counties nearby. Several of their children, however, appeared on marriage and death records in Fulton and Marshall Counties in IN after 1880.
In an interview with Byron GILCHRIST, great grandson of George BEEHLER, in the mid 1990s, Byron reported that George, Jr., son of George, left
Fulton County about 1855 to migrate to KANSAS. Yet, there are records indicating that George, Jr. was not born until 1852.
Compiler's husband discovered a database on the BUEHLER name on a genealogical web site on the internet in Dec., 1997. Further investigation resulted in downloading data on this family from the database of William HASSENPLUG of Lansing, MI. Mr. HASSENPLUG did not respond to attempts to contact him via his e-mail address, however, compiler is relatively sure that this gentleman is a descendent of the HASSENPLUG family who were residents of Fulton County, IN, and married into the BEEHLER/BUEHLER family in the early 1900s.
Per data submitted by Mr. HASSENPLUG, compiler was able to add earlier generations of the BUEHLER family, as well as birth and death dates for
George BUEHLER/BEEHLER, father of Catherine (BEEHLER) MOW. According to this data, George was born in GERMANY and died in WA; his wife, Mary (Anna Mary WIEHL) BEEHLER/BUEHLER, however, died in Labette County, KS. This would indicate that it is likely that some of the couple's family did migrate to KANSAS, but it would have been considerably later than reported previously.
Mr. HASSENPLUG's data also includes a date and place of marriage for George and Anna Mary (WIEHL). Compiler feels the data given is probably accurate, since Huron County, OH would be very close to Sandusky County, where compiler's great grandmother/George's daughter, Catherine was born in 1859.
GILCHRIST family tradition reports that George BUEHLER built a lovely corner cupboard for his daughter, Catherine after her
marriage to David B. MOW. That cupboard stood in the home of William and Artiemicia (MOW) GILCHRIST for many years, but eventually was handed down to Rhea Ann STEININGER, the great grand daughter of Artiemicia's sister, Maine (MOW) STICHLER.
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Wife: Anna "Mary" WIEHL #119
Married: 14 JAN 1849 in: Huron County, OH
Marr. Ceremony? Y/N: Divorced/Annulled/Separated: End Year:
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Born: 19 APR 1826 in: Ungstein, Bavaria/GERMANY
Church: in:
Died: 28 SEP 1885 in: Oswego (Labette) KS
Cemetery: in:
Other: in:
Military: Occupation:
Father: Lawrence WIEHL #12675
Mother: Margarete HAAS #12676
Compiler has been able to learn very little concerning the mother of Catherine (BEEHLER) MOW. Family reports had been that "Mary BUEHLER" (alternate spelling, BEEHLER) was Catherine's mother, but no one was able to give any details of Mary's origins. The U.S. Census records examined both report that her place of birth was "Bavaria".
The family tradition that this couple moved from Fulton County, IN to somewhere in KANSAS in 1855 simply could not be confirmed, since Catherine was born in 1859 in OHIO and Mary and George appeared in census records in Fulton County in 1870.
In Dec., 1997, compiler's husband received computerized data on this family via a genealogy web service. The data found there was reported to have come from a William HASSENPLUG in Lansing, MI. Compiler's husband attempted
to contact Mr. HASSENPLUG via e-mail, with a request to exchange family data. Mr. HASSENPLUG never responded to that request.
Further research into the GenServe Site yielded additional data on the family, which compiler has chosen to include in this family history. It should be remembered, however, that no sources for the HASSENPLUG data has been found. Compiler feels that much of it, especially the marriage of George BUEHLER/BEEHLER to Anna Mary WIEHL is probably accurate, since Catherine, the couple's fifth or sixth child, was born in 1859 in Sandusky County, OH--very close to Huron County where HASSENPLUG reports the BUEHLERs were married in 1849.
The parents of Anna Mary were identified in HASSENPLUG's data.
Two other descendents0 of George BUEHLER/BEEHLER, Margarett STEININGER
and Wilma (MOW) FOLTZ have both reported to compiler that "Mabel HASSENPLUG", an individual who has been mentioned many times by compiler's parents, in talking about friends and family living in and around Fulton County, IN, had a very extensive genealogy collection on the BEEHLER family. Both Margarett and Wilma have reported that they had no idea what might have happened to that collection after Mabel's death. Compiler suspects that William HASSENPLUG may have been a descendent of Mabel's, and that he might have inherited her work.
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M Child 1 George BEEHLER, Jr. #264
Born: 25 OCT 1851 in: Seneca County, OH
Church: in:
Died: 25 JUN 1939 in: Fulton County, IN/MICHIGAN (?)
Cemetery: South Germany in: Fulton County, IN
Other: in:
Military: Occupation:
Spouse: Mary C. WALTERS #265
Married: 27 DEC 1874 in: Fulton County, IN
Marr. Ceremony? Y/N: Divorced/Annulled/Separated: End Year:
Spouse: Rebecca (JAMES) McMICHAEL #305
Married: 27 NOV 1912 in: Fulton County, IN
Marr. Ceremony? Y/N: Divorced/Annulled/Separated: End Year:
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M Child 2 Rudolph BEEHLER #266
Born: 28 AUG 1854 in: Seneca County, OH
Church: in:
Died: 08 NOV 1906 in: Fulton County, IN
Cemetery: in:
Other: in:
Military: Occupation:
Spouse: Mary PLANTZ #306
Married: 31 DEC 1876 in: Fulton County, IN
Marr. Ceremony? Y/N: Divorced/Annulled/Separated: End Year:
Spouse: Emma Sopha Myers (GRAY) #307
Married: 27 JAN 1901 in: Fulton County, IN
Marr. Ceremony? Y/N: Divorced/Annulled/Separated: End Year:
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M Child 3 Phillip H. BEEHLER #267
Born: 04 MAY 1855 in: Seneca County, OH
Church: in:
Died: 28 MAR 1939 in: St. Joseph County, IN
Cemetery: South Germany in: Fulton County, IN
Other: in:
Military: Occupation: Minister
Spouse: Delphia Ann ANSPACH #268
Married: 01 MAR 1880 in: Sandusky County, OH
Marr. Ceremony? Y/N: Divorced/Annulled/Separated: End Year:
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M Child 4 John BEEHLER #269
Born: 05 APR 1857 in: OHIO
Church: in:
Died: 09 MAR 1944 in: OKLAHOMA
Cemetery: in:
Other: in:
Military: Occupation:
Compiler has been unable to locate further data on this son of George and Anna Mary BEEHLER/BUEHLER. He appeared as a 13-year-old in his parents' household on the 1870 census. By the 1880 enumeration, he was not there.
While compiler found other members of the family buried at the South Germany Cemetery, John was not. No marriage was found in Fulton County Marriage Indexes.
William HASSENPLUG did include John in the data he submitted to GenServ, but only dates and places of birth and death were given. No source was cited for that data.
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F Child 5 Catherine "Kate" BEEHLER #115
Born: 03 JUN 1859 in: Sandusky (Erie) OH
Church: GRANDVIEW EUB in: Fulton County, IN
Died: 07 APR 1948 in: South Bend (St. Joseph) IN
Cemetery: IOOF in: Richland Center (Fulton) IN
Other: in:
Military: Occupation:
Spouse: David Bruce MOW #116
Married: 07 DEC 1879 in: Fulton County, IN
Marr. Ceremony? Y/N: Divorced/Annulled/Separated: End Year:
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M Child 6 Franklin BEEHLER #270
Born: Abt 1861 in: INDIANA
Church: in:
Died: Abt 1949 in: California
Cemetery: in:
Other: Resided in: Redlands, CA
Military: Occupation: Farmer
Spouse: Mary Lavin LOLMAUGH #12679
Married: Abt 1887 in: Oswego (Labette) KS
Marr. Ceremony? Y/N: Divorced/Annulled/Separated: End Year:
Spouse: Amy JENCKS #12792
Married: in:
Marr. Ceremony? Y/N: Divorced/Annulled/Separated: End Year:
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M Child 7 Edward BEEHLER #271
Born: 14 MAY 1863 in: INDIANA
Church: in:
Died: 17 JUN 1931 in: Kansas
Cemetery: in:
Other: Resided in: Kansas
Military: Occupation: Wheat Farmer
Spouse: Dora KINGSBURY #12680
Married: (Unk) in: Oswego (Labette) KS
Marr. Ceremony? Y/N: Divorced/Annulled/Separated: End Year:
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F Child 8 Eliza BEEHLER #272
Born: 08 MAY 1864 in: INDIANA
Church: in:
Died: 31 MAY 1932 in: Fulton County, IN
Cemetery: in:
Other: Resided in: Arkansas
Military: Occupation:
Spouse: Howard STEININGER #273
Married: 23 SEP 1883 in: Fulton County, IN
Marr. Ceremony? Y/N: Divorced/Annulled/Separated: End Year:
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M Child 9 Elijah Buehler BEEHLER #274
Born: 25 APR 1867 in: INDIANA
Church: in:
Died: 28 SEP 1884 in: Labette County, KS
Cemetery: in:
Other: in:
Military: Occupation:
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F Child 10 Mary "BUEHLER" BEEHLER #12677
Born: 10 DEC 1849 in: Seneca County, OH
Church: in:
Died: 19 JUN 1926 in: Seattle (King) WA
Cemetery: in:
Other: in:
Military: Occupation:
Spouse: Charles GRAEBER #12678
Married: 24 FEB 1870 in: Fulton County, IN
Marr. Ceremony? Y/N: Divorced/Annulled/Separated: End Year:
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Compiled by:Ann & Ernie Grubb
26-JAN-1998 Family Group Sheet Page 7
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Husband: Franklin BEEHLER #270
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Born: Abt 1861 in: INDIANA
Church: in:
Died: Abt 1949 in: California
Cemetery: in:
Other: Resided in: Redlands, CA
Military: Occupation: Farmer
Father: George BEEHLER #120
Mother: Anna "Mary" WIEHL #119
Byron GILCHRIST, nephew of Frank Beehler, reported to his daughter, as she was writing a letter to compiler for Byron, that Frank had gone to CA and had owned orange groves there.
Compiler found 9-year-old Frank enumerated in his parents' household in Fulton County, IN in 1870. From Frank's age and place of birth as reported on that census and from the age and place of birth of his older sister, Catherine, compiler has calculated that the BEEHLERs probably migrated from OHIO to Fulton County, IN about 1860 or 1861. Franklin was the first of the BEEHLER children to be born in INDIANA.
Compiler found no record of marriage for Franklin in Fulton County, however, he was not in his parents' household on enumeration day in 1880. There was a "Frank Beehler, 19, Servant, Laborer..." enumerated in household
the surname of the head of that household. The given name of the HOH was "Josh"; his age was given as 53; his place of birth as "Ohio". His wife, Emma, was 50, also born in OH. Two adult daughters and one 29-year-old son, in addition to three other teenage members of this family were enumerated just prior to the name of Frank BEEHLER.
No other information had been located on Frank BEEHLER until compiler's husband found the Wm. HASSENPLUG data entries on GenServ. Per Mr. HASSENPLUG, Frank married Mary Lavina LOLMAUGH in 1887. The location of that marriage was not given, nor was any source of the marriage date entered. Another marriage to Amy JENCKS was shown on the same source.
Compiled by:Ann & Ernie Grubb