And, Now, for Something Completely Different

I've been waxing on about my family for the last couple of years, but I also have another passion - the history of the town where I grew up. Cedar Falls, Iowa. When I was 17 and freshly graduated, I wanted to get out of this town as quickly as possible and spent the next 35 years living in Germany and in many different states in the US, before finally returning here when my children were all grown and I was old enough to appreciate a quieter, milder, kinder pace of life and rich history of this little piece of paradise.

One of the things we did was buy an old home in the historic downtown region. The street is lined with all types of homes built from the late 1800s to the 1920s. Mayors, doctors, factory owners, and other town notables lived in this area, which is now perhaps not as grand as it once was, but is lovingly cared for by the owners of today who see the value in the old home.

It was love at first sight when I saw the house go online nearly five years ago. It sat there, just waiting for us when we were ready to hunt for a home and get on with the next part of our lives. Once we settled in, I delved into the history of our house.

Robert Speers

This house was part of the Speers addition, which was subdivided and platted long before the house was built. Most likely, prior to the house being built, the family lived in a log cabin on the property. That would have been quite normal. Born in 1828 in Pennsylvania, Robert P. Speer, came to Cedar Falls in 1853. He was a nurseryman, lawyer, and a Captain in Company B, 31st Regiment, of the Iowa Volunteer Brigade which served the North in the Civil War. Speer actively involved himself in developing the city of Cedar Falls. From the original "Overman & Brown" tract of land, he purchased and platted what became "RP Speer Addition" (Section 12, 89 lots, 14 blocks) in Cedar Falls in 1856. Mr. Speer lived to nearly 80 years old, dying in 1909. I'm guessing he was loaded with bucks.


In 1856, Zacheus McNally purchased Lot 5, Block 2 of the RP Speer Addition. Unfortunately,

Zacheus died in 1886 and no building had begun. He died intestate so his heirs, wife Rosetta, son Frank and daughter Kate had to go to court to get title to the property.

Rosetta McNally, her son Frank (Elsia) and daughter Catherine McNally hung onto the property at Lot 5, Block 2 once they worked through the probate issues after Zacheus' death. In 1894, they took out a loan from the Cedar Valley Building and Loan Association and built themselves a house at what would become 920 Washington St.

Professor Bernhard Dubbert was the director of the conservatory of music at Upper Iowa University

Prof Bernhard Dubbert

in Fayette, IA starting in 1894 and had previously taught in public schools for many years. He was born in Sonnenborn, Germany in 1861. He married Minnie E. West of Lake Park IA in 1893 after having been one of his music pupils. They had two children, Ruth, born in Laurens in 1894 and Rudolph, born in 1897. Mrs. Dubbert was very active in the civic organizations of Cedar Falls. Their children both attended Iowa State Normal School/State College of Iowa. They purchased their home in Cedar Falls (920 Washington) in 1902 from the McNally's for $5,000 and owned it until 1931. They also maintained a home in Fayette County. Mrs. Dubbert seemed to be a bit of a social butterfly - and the "society" here would have suited her better than semi-rural/rural Fayette County.

The Dubbert's daughter, Ruth Dubbert Claxton and her husband Forrest B. Claxton purchased the house from her parents in 1931 but don't seem to have lived here, while the mother did. They retained title for the most part until 1937 when it was sold back to Minnie, who held deed to the property at 920 Washington until 1940. Ruth graduated from Iowa Normal in 1916, taught school for a couple years, then married Forrest. They lived in Fayette for all of their married lives except when he was serving in the war. She died in 1962 and he died at 89 in 1979. I'm going to go out on a limb, based on the additional loans taken out, that this was converted to apartments upstairs to help support Mrs. Dubbert after Mr. Dubbert died. At least until I get more information.

Mary Billman Judd purchased 920 Washington from Minnie Dubbert in 1940. In 1949, the house was named part of the "MF-Multiple Family District" which I believe means Mrs. Judd, who was older at

the time of the purchase, ran a boarding house of some sort. She owned the property until 1951. The extensive renovations done to the house sometime after Dr. Dubbert died and the Lebeda/Hadachek time included setting this up with multiple entries, creating the apartments upstairs (adding a bath to the first bedroom, which shortened the staircase ceiling in one spot, closing off the servants backstairs and cutting them off at the bottom and creating a cupboard to hide it, adding a wall next to the living room which housed a hallway between a new entry and the living room/kitchen).

Joseph J. Hadachek and wife Mary Lebeda Hadachek purchased the house from Mary Billman Judd in 1951 and sold it to her brother 10 years later. From Lebeda family reports, the home was never lived in by the Hadacheks. Frequently, in days gone by, getting a home loan wasn't so easy. Many times family members purchased a home and the tenant-owner made payments. According to a granddaughter of the Lebeda's, the Lebeda's lived on College St with their kids and had a house fire. They needed to quickly find a home large enough for the group. The Hadachek's assisted in the purchase of the home and then it became the Lebeda's. Joseph C. Lebeda and his wife Nadine E. Lebeda put their name on the title in 1961.

The Lebeda's attended St Patrick’s Catholic Church, a short walk from the house. Joseph worked at Dick Witham Chevrolet. Nadine died in 1983 and Joseph in 1986. Their four sons sold the house in 1999. This was probably a rental/apartments from 1986-1999 Based on information from the Lebeda granddaughter, the family kept the apartment style upstairs despite having four boys to house. As the Lebeda's got older and the kids moved out, they rented out the

apartments and lived downstairs. My office was their bedroom. They extended the kitchen to house an eat-in kitchen area as well. The office upstairs was the kitchen for the larger apartment and the master bedroom was the living room of that apartment. The bedroom is what is our guest room. The second apartment was a studio with small kitchenette, bath, and bedroom.

Joseph Sevcik is a lawyer and now a judge in these here parts. He and his wife Lisa purchased Lot 5, Block 2 (920 Washington) from the Lebeda children in 1999. They converted this house back to a single family dwelling and made significant updates and improvements. They never lived here. In town they have taken on a couple of conversion projects to restore grand old homes to their former single-family glory.

A couple of tenured history professors at UNI first owned the single family conversion. They bought the house in Lot 5, Block 2 in 2001 from the Sevcik's and sold it to little old me in 2013.

I love this house, but it's shy a bedroom and I can see that though I may try to deny the inevitable aging we all do, I may need less stairs in the future. I will miss this old girl, my walks through the delightful neighborhood filled with good neighbors with my dogs each day, and the large, ancient maples that provide shade from the relentless heat of summer.

I'm sure Robert Speers would have no idea that Cedar Falls would remain what is has always been, a lovely university town with good people who would appreciate to this day the work he did to lay out his little part of the city.

Roy Brownlee, A Victim of the Philippine Insurrection

American Infantry Soldiers in Philippines

UNK SMULL > HENRY SMULL > ABIGAIL SMULL m Lorenzo Brownlee > HARRISON BROWNLEE m Carrie Morton > ROY A BROWNLEE

Daughter of Henry Smull and first wife Elizabeth Royer, Abigail Smull, married her husband, Lorenzo Brownlee, while living in her native Centre County, Pennsylvania. They resided in Clinton County at the 1850 Census and sometime around 1851, they came to Stephenson County, where many of Abbie's father's brother Peter's relatives had come years before.

The Brownlee's took the long overland journey by covered wagon and upon their arrival, Lorenzo set up business as a shoemaker, which he followed for many years.

The couple had six children: Mary Jane, Sarah Elizabeth, Harrison, Mattie, and William.

Harrison was born 18 Oct 1848 in Mill Hall, Pennsylvania. He married Carrie Morton and they had four children; three sons and a daughter. Carrie was born 12 Sep 1856 in Clinton County, Pennsylvania.

Their oldest son Roy Arthur was born 10 Aug 1876 in Stephenson County. He joined the Army and served in the Coastal Artillery in Washington state and then was shipped to the Philippines during the Philippine Insurrection which had started in 1899, in 1900 as part of Co C, 34th Illinois Infantry Regiment. Not long after his arrival, his family received word that he had died, but this report turned out to be false. In fact, he had not been shot at all, but was gravely ill. This report was partially credited to gossip as bits of information were known and passed along with more, incorrect information.

After spending months in the hospital there, he was medically discharged. Doctors could not figure out what was causing the painful problem with...his ear. On his return to the US, he stopped at an Army hospital in California in hopes the doctors there could figure out what was causing the painful discharge that seemed to have started during a period of severe fever while in the tropical environs of the Philippines.

His situation did not improve and he spent most of the remainder of his life in and out of Disabled Volunteer Soldier homes in Milwaukee and Ohio. Somewhere in there, he married, but to whom is not known. It's not believed he had any children. The 1940 census had him still alive, married, but living alone as a boarder in Freeport, Stephenson County, Illinois and that is the last trace of him.

Jacob Smull Family: Uncle Billy Klise & Anna Elizabeth Bechtol

JACOB SMULL > REBECCA SMULL m Solomon Bechtol > Anna Elizabeth Bechtol m William

Uncle Billy Klise

Klise

Jacob Smull, Rebecca's father, was one of the original four Brothers Smull of Brush Valley. Rebecca Smull was born in 1827 in Rebersburg, Centre County, Pennsylvania. She married Solomon Bechtol and they eventually relocated to the Lock Haven area when Anna Elizabeth was a young girl. Anna was born 18 Oct 1863 in Rebersburg.

The family belonged to St John's Lutheran Church. Anna would be the church organist when she grew up and hold that job for 50 years. On 21 Oct 1880, she married William "Uncle Billy" Klise in Bellefonte, Centre County. The couple resided for many years in the 300 block of E Bald St. Klise later lived over his tailor shop at 231 E Main St in Lock Haven.

Uncle Billy was a tailor in Lock Haven and stayed in business for over 60 years. Billy was born in Northumberland County on 04 Feb 1854 and came to Lock Haven when he was one year old. His father was one of about 100 men who came to Lock Haven to work in the burgeoning lumber business.

Klise recalled  the early days of the town. When the town began, there were relatively few businesses in town and most of the town was concentrated between Mill and Henderson Streets. The business section was along Water St. The building next to what is now his tailor shop, the Irvin Hotel, was originally built by William Morehead, for a courthouse, but the founder of Lock Haven, Jerry Church, donated three lots in the First Ward for the courthouse. Morehead turned his building into the Manslon House hotel in about 1838. It wasn't until the Civil War that the business district shifted from Water Street to Main Street. This was due in large part to a great fire that burned all the buildings on Grove St between Main and Water and all of those on Water between Grove and the Canal.

Irvin Hotel, Lock Haven

Billy learned the tailoring business through an apprenticeship  starting once he had had enough of school. In 1869, he established himself in the business. When he started in the business, there were only 31 stars on the flag. His first shop was in the Opera House building which later housed the YMCA, Mason's drug store, and several other businesses.He was also one of the first in the city to get a telephone.

Billy formed the "Klise Klub" - made up of friends and comrades who enjoyed friendship over sweet cider while hanging about in the barn behind the tailor shop.

The couple had no children. Anna died after a long illness at age 64 on 15 Oct 1926.

Main St Lock Haven, Looking West

The days of ready to wear would eventually lead to the demise of many tailor shops, but Billy Klise was able to maintain his business with only custom made suits for its entire life. He finally retired at the age of 78.He made his rounds each day of his retirement, which almost always included a visit to the Western Union Telegraph Office and the "lobby Senate" at the Irvin Hotel.  Every day, after lunch, he went to Sam Brickley's ice cream shop for a scoop of ice cream. Then, he'd return to his shop to visit with those who had stopped by.

On the event of Billy's 90th birthday, the Lock Haven Express gave Billy a lifetime free subscription for his loyalty in reading the paper every days since the paper's inception in 1882. He also asserted, "I'd like to go through it all again. I had a grand life." His nephew and wife resided with him and cared for him at the end of his life in his apartment over the shop.

Billy continued to his active retirement until he injured his hand in a fall the summer of 1945 which eventually got gangrenous. The infection killed him 21 Nov 1945. As his wife had, Billy died in Lock Haven.

Family Secrets Revealed: Verlie Smith Michaelsen Linsey

"Last night, one of my new cousins said something to the effect that shining light on family secrets frees us all from the tyranny of the pain those secrets can bring. A lot of wisdom there!" Me, 2017

In late 1937, life changed for one family in a way that would greatly impact them for a lifetime. Verlie Smith's marriage to her husband Ted Michaelsen, fell apart and she left to save herself. Alone. Without her children, because how would she support and feed them in the middle of the depression, her without a job? What happened next can be learned about here.

Click to increase size

I am the grandchild of the purple set of children of Verlie Smith. I had contact with three of the children in orange of Verlie's first marriage throughout my life, but I never met nor did any of we "purples" get to meet our aunt Judy Lou, who was adopted outside of the family. She maintained some contact with her full siblings, but not a lot and as reported, did not speak often about her first family.

This past week, two of my cousins and I got to meet two of Judy Lou's three daughters. They had just recently discovered we existed and we they. They have a lot of blanks to fill in because in all of this, no one really ever talked about it. My dad reportedly did not even know he had another sister until he had to get his birth certificate to join the Army, which reflected an additional birth to his mother. 

After my Grandma Verlie died, I wrote to Judy Lou, extending a hand, but was not met with a response. I know that we all respected her desire to have nothing to do with the family, though we all regretted knowing there was someone out there we'd never get to know. We heard for the first time that our grandma asked for Judy Lou to come see her as she was dying and after much soul-searching, did. 

It had to be really hard for Judy's daughters to meet with us - a mixture of pleasure and pain and a sense of being overwhelmed by "What could have been," and "What if they are crazy and bad for us?"

I was grateful to have met them and look forward to them joining us at our third annual revival reunion (we restarted reunions a couple years back after a long period of not having any) this fall and meeting our third first cousin who lives out of state. We have a good little family, if a bit convoluted in connection in time and space. I admire all of my other cousins and it looks like I'll have three more to enjoy moving forward.

Robert Smith & Flora Hinmon

JACOB SMITH > JAMES SMITH > JACOB SMITH m Elizabeth Monteith > ROBERT SMITH

Elizabeth Monteith Smith

Elizabeth Monteith was one of three of Edward Boyd Monteith's girls who married Smith's during this era. Jacob Smith and Elizabeth Monteith had three children: James Edward, Robert Alexander and Agnes.

Robert Alexannder Smith was born 04 Jun 1869 in Bremer County. He married Flora Hinmon on 01 Jan 1890 in Bremer County. Flora was born in July 1873 in Le Grand, Marshall County, Iowa. Her parents were George and Delilah Fuller Hinmon. Flora's sister Mary Elizabeth "Polly" married Andrew Jackson Surber, of whom I wrote previously. Flora's brother Alfred would marry Robert's sister Agnes as well!

Robert lived five years in Aberdeen, South Dakota, then primarily in Plainfield, until the couple moved permanently to Waterloo in 1916. While in Plainfield, he worked as a section man for the Illinois Central Railroad.

Rath Packing, Waterloo

Rath Packing Co. was a highly successful packing plant that was started in the mid-1800s in
Dubuque, Iowa. When the small plant burned down, the City of Waterloo lured the Rath's to Waterloo, where an operation was built and operated successfully until the 1960s/1970s, when packing plants experienced struggles. By the 1980s the situation was dire and the company became employee-owned. Finally, it collapsed completely in the mid-1980s. Robert spent 23 years working for Rath, as did  many of the citizens of Waterloo, as Rath was one of its major employers.

The couple had three children: Charles Henry, Florence Elizabeth, and Lucile D.

Back row: Charles on Left standing
Front row: Florence Smith, below teacher in bow tie, on left
Plainfield HS 1909

Robert died in Waterloo 17 Aug 1942 in Waterloo. His wife died of complications of a stroke on 07 Dec 1958, also in Waterloo.

Jacob Smull Family: Jacob & Elizabeth Smull Burkert

UNK SMULL > JACOB SMULL > ELIZABETH SMULL m Jacob Burkert

Elizabeth was one of the older children of Jacob Smull, one of the four Brothers Smull of Brush
Valley. Jacob is the biggest question mark of the four brothers so far in my research. So far, I've located five children of the marriage of Jacob Smull and Margareth Brodt.

Elizabeth was born in 1822 in Miles, Centre County, Pennsylvania. At some point, she married Jacob Burkert, a native of Montgomery County. He was born 27 Jul 1816.

Jacob was a cabinetmaker by trade. He lived in Berks County prior to coming to Centre County. Jacob was an orderly sergeant for the Brush Valley Guards, which organized in 1838 and remained active until the beginning of the Civl War. It "was the first volunteer company in the valley that was composed chiefly of her own citizens." After disbanding, many of the members joined the Army during the War of the Rebellion. Citizens typically served seven years. Jacob served during the 1840s. He also later served as a justice of the peace for ten years.

The Burkerts had 11 children: George (died in the Civil War in 1861; served as a musician; died at camp with the Bellefonte Invincibles at Carlisle, PA), Rev Cyrus J., Effinger, Cephas Milton, John Clark, Emma Jane, Dr. Edwin F, Charles, and Clayton Smull Burkert (two died as infants),  I'll talk about a couple of the kids here:

Rev Cyrus Jacob Burkert was born in Rebersburg, 07 Jul 1842 and died in Dayton, Ohio, 12 Nov 1905. He attended school in Rebersburg (German instruction), read under a Lutheran minister, and later followed his uncle Rev CJ Burkert, a member of the Allegheny Conference, and he accompanied him on his pastoral administrations and assisted in Sabbath services. Later, he spent a little time at a Lutheran Theological Seminary at Selings Grove, Pa. That ended when he followed his uncle to Indiana. He then came to Ohio where he planned to enter the Union Biblical Seminary, but the needs of the elders caused that opportunity to slip away.In 1862, he was teaching school in East Germantown, Indiana and entered Hartsville University, operated by the United Brethren, but had to leave to serve in the military on 90-day basis. He joined the 54th Indiana Volunteers at Cambridge City on June 3, 1862 and was mustered in as a Sergeant June 4, 1862. and was mustered out in the fall.

In 1867, he married Anna Boughner and they had two sons: George and William. He died at the age of  62 in Ohio, never a highly educated master of religion, but one devout and successful in the eyes of his parishioners.

Dayton State Hospital

Dr. Edwin F Burkert, MD was born 27 Feb 1856, in Centre County. He attended local school and
then the Normal School. He taught two terms in Pennsylvania, then moved to Germantown, Ohio, where he attended Twin Valley College and Southwestern Ohio Normal. He taught for six years. During the last three years at school, he studied medicine and eventually attended Ohio Medical College of Cincinnati, where he graduated with the Class of 1884. He first practiced in Trenton, Ohio, then moved on to Collinville for three years. Then, he came to Dayton in 1887, and established his practice there.

He married Anna M Carney, daughter of AD Carney, a citizen of Sunbury, Delaware County, Ohio. The couple had three children. Members of the United Brethren Curch, Edwin died 21 Sep 1910 of acute delusional insanity at the age of 53 at the Dayton State Hospital. Anna died 16 Mar 1937 in Jefferson County, Ohio.

Jacob Marean and Mary Bolender

HEINRICH BOLENDER > MICHAEL BOLENDER > MARY BOLENDER

Jacob Marean & Mary Bolender; Anna,
John (back), William, Edith (front)

AESEBEUS MAREAN > JACOB MAREAN

Two Bolender brothers, Reuben John "John" and Michael, headed west from Snyder County, Pennsylvania in 1840 and would intertwine with northern Illinois/southern Wisconsin families for generations to come.

I recently talked about John's son Levi, who married Sarah Haas, sister of Valentine M Haas, who married WL Cooper's daughter Hannah Cooper. Today, I'm talking about John Bolender's brother, Michael, who had a daughter, Mary, who would marry Jacob Marean, the brother of Anna Christina Marean Lauck, whose son Edward Dietz Lauck married the daughter of Matilda Smull, yet another of my relatives. But try to draw that out - it's just crazy! Suffice it to say, the Bolenders of Pennsylvania and No Illinois/So Wisconsin are part of the great story of our family.

Michael Bolender married Catherine Decker and the couple had at least 12 children; eighth in line was Mary. She was born 24 Mar 1844 on Oneco Township, Stephenson County. She married Jacob Marean, son of Aesebeus Marean in about 1868 in Illinois. Michael died 08 Jun 1882 in Stephenson County and Catherine died 03 Jun 1878.

Aesebeus' father Jacob Marean, came from Germany, settling in Pennsylvania. Aesebeus married Elizabeth Miller in May 1830 in Schuykill, Pennsylvania. Aesebeus was a plasterer by trade and also farmed in Juniata County. In 1847, after they sold the farm at a good price, he, his wife, and seven children moved west to Illinois by canal to the Ohio River, and then overland to Jo Daviess County, Illinois. A team brought their things east to Buckeye Township. Aesebeus purchased 120 acres at $3.50 per acre.The family cared for the farm while Aesebeus plied his plasterer's trade. At his death in 1874, they had acquired a total of 154 acres. His wife Elizabeth died in 1875.

Jacob Marean, Civil War

Jacob was born 17 Aug 1838 in Juniata County, Pennsylvania. Jacob attended school in winter and worked the farm in the summer. At age 22, Jacob enlisted in the Army during the Civil War, when he joined Company A, 11th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He participated at the battle of Ft Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, and the battle of Vicksburg. He later served in Co B, 8th Illinois Infantry, where he served until the end of the war.

Jacob and his wife Mary resided in Buckeye Township. He operated his father's farm until 1870 and then crossed the Mississippi and bought a tract of land in Pike County, Missouri. They lived there for seven years before returning to the Orangeville area in Stephenson County, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Jacob built a beautiful new home on the old property and a large barn.

The couple were Lutherans. They had four children; two boys and two girls. He was active in town affairs and considered a solid citizen. Unfortunately, his entire life change in a moment on the morning of 07 Oct 1906. What started as a normal day ended up being the last day of his life. While on the way back from the stock market with his stock wagon and team, his horses were spooked and did a runaway. In the ensuing chaos, Jacob got his heels caught in the spokes of one of the wheels and ended up being dragged for over a mile, killing him before the horses could be slowed. The corner's inquest declared it an accidental death.

Mary lived for another 20 years, until 05 Sep 1926.