Saturday, December 17, 2016

Johnathan Smull Family: Viola Geneva Smull

PETER SMULL > JOHNATHAN SMULL > VIOLA GENEVA SMULL m Charles Walter Gritzner
Young Viola

Viola was born 06 Aug 1871 in Rock Grove, Stephenson County, Illinois. Viola came with her family to Bradford, Iowa in 1876 and then to Plainfield after the death of her father. She married Charles Walter "C.W." Gritzner on 01 Jun 1892 in Bremer County, Iowa. C. W. was born 31 Jan 1868 in Butler County, Iowa to August and Theresa Gritzner. They were German immigrants.

C.W. was a poultry man and in his last years, working at the Plainfield Egg House, where he was stricken ill. He died at his home on 30 Apr 1931. The couple had two boys and four girls. Viola died in Marion, Iowa, in the home of her son John, of a cerebral hemorrhage 21 Nov 1947.

1. Charles Augustus "Carl": Born 23 Dec 1892 in Plainfield, he married Hazel Norine Jones on 05 Apr 1919 in Nashua, Chickasaw County. He died 10 Dec 1980 in Charles City, Floyd County and she 17 Nov 1981 in Plainfield.  Carl was a rural postal carrier and veteran of World War I. In 1947, his patrons gave him a holiday gift of $52 for his faithful service. They had four children.

2. Johnathan L.:  Born in 1894, he married Gertrude Wade on 15 Jun 1921 in Plainfield. They lived in Waterloo until 1933 and then moved to Marion, Iowa until John retired, then moved to Onalaska, Wisconsin. John died in 1988 and Gertrude died 29 Feb 1976 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. They had one child.

3. Blanche: Born 03 Aug 1896 in Plainfield. She went out to the work world after graduation from Plainfield high school, scoring a job as assistant postmistress for Plainfield and then as assistant cashier at the Farmer's State Bank. She worked her way up to cashier and took a transfer to the Sumner, Iowa branch, where she met Harold G. Garland, an assistant bookkeeper at the Wescott & Winks Produce Plant. They married 02 Nov 1927 in Sumner. She converted to Catholicism to marry. Harold died in 1947 and Blanche in Nov 1959. They had one child.

4. Anne "Annie" Maud: Born 18 Jun 1898 in Plainfield. She married Merle Eugene Smith on 31 Dec 1924 in Plainfield. They had no children. Merle briefly operated a barber shop out of the east side of C. Beine's building in Nashua in the mid-1920s. They moved to Waterloo shortly after their marriage and Merle would work as an engineer at the city water works in Waterloo, Black Hawk County. Merle died 16 Jul 1956 and Annie moved to live with her sister Blanche. She died in Sumner on 28 Jun 1959. They had no children.

5. Florence Amelia "Babe":  Born 25 Aug 1900 in Plainfield. She never married, She started out teaching in Emmetsburg. She moved on to Cedar Rapids in 1929, where she was later principal of Tyler and then appointed at Hayes school in Cedar Rapids in 1943. She was long-time principal of Lincoln School there from 1948-1960, when she resigned to move nearer to Plainfield. She visited England at least twice, once as an exchange teacher in 1947-1948. In 1969, at the death of her sister Blanche, she was living in Sumner. She died on 04 Apr 1995 in Los Angeles County, California. Her sister Hilda was living in Covina.

Of note is that a study she did while working in Cedar Rapids in 1957 made it onto the newswire. The study involved conflict between parents and children. It bears a read!


6. Hilda Becthel: Born 06 Mar 1910 in Plainfield. She married Alfred Herman Kinzler. Alfred hailed from Wisconsin, where he was born 19 May 1908, the son of Dr. Albert Kinzler and Zena Huisenga Hilda attended the Iowa State Teacher's College in Cedar Falls. She taught music in Osage and later in Waterloo. They had one daughter and four sons, all of whom had beautiful singing voices. Their oldest son was selected to join the Columbus, Ohio, Boychoir in 1950 and sang with them for at least two years. Albert worked at Rath Packing Co. in Waterloo. After their retirement, they moved to Covina, Los Angeles County, California. Alfred died 20 Apr 1983 and Hilda was the last remaining Gritzner kid, dying 27 Dec 1999 in Covina.

Waterloo Daily Courier June 17, 1951

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