Wordless Wednesday - Rodenberger Sisters

Photo from Jeanie Ommerle

John Rodenberger's daughters:

4 - Allie; 2 - Clara; 1 - Iona (Sis); 6 - Nellie

5 - Elsie; 3 - May

Columbus, Kas.

The photo was taken before March 1913 since Nellie died on the 4th of March.

Tombstone Tuesday - John H and Elizabeth L (Spring) Rodenberger

McKee Cemetery

Hallowell, Cherokee Co, Kansas

Photo by Mary Parmele
FindAGrave website

RODENBERGER

John

Rodenberger

Nov. 20, 1831 - Sept. 6, 1908

Elizabeth L. Spring

(His Wife)

Apr. 28, 1837 - Sept. 8, 1895

Also buried at McKee Cemetery are 6 of their 8 children, Elizabeth's 1/2 sister, John's younger brother, sons and daughters-in-law, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren.

Amanuensis Monday - Hindenburg Disaster



The Indianapolis Sunday Star, Indianapolis, Indiana; May 9, 1937

Dark Clouds Omened Ill for Airship, Former Resident Writes of Disaster

(Mrs. Betty Barrett Dillon is the former Betty Jane Barrett of Indianapolis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred E. Barrett.  She is a graduate of Tudor Hall and Butler University and for some time prior to her marriage May 15, 1935, to Allen Dillon of New York, was an assistant in the Indianapolis public library.  Since her marriage she has made her home in Mount Holly, N.J. - Editor's Note.)

BY BETTY BARRETT DILLON.
     Brown's Mills, N.J., May 8. - The day was bright and summerlike as we arrived at Lakehurst to see the Hindenburg land.  While we parked the car she passed over our heads, calm and remote as a grey gull carried by the breeze and scarce seeming to move.  Then she drifted out over the horizon and hovered somewhere behind a circle of pines until the wind should die and the air became calm enough to make her landing a safe one.
     And as we waited there came two smaller birds, glorious silver swifts with crimson-tipped wings and tail.  They circled the field and landed gently.
     We gathered close to the ropes for we felt nearer to the glory of the Hindenburg when we could see those who had a right to approach her, those who had flown from New York to return with her at midnight or who had come to greet dear ones upon their return to America.  We wondered if that young couple were starting a honeymoon or waiting to welcome mother back for Mother's day, and if at least one of those men was off to London for the coronation.
                                      Navy Men Arrive at Mast.
     But now there was bustle everywhere.  The wind had calmed.  A truck load of navy men drove to the nearest mooring mast.  Customs officers followed them and then the ground crew, walking quickly and orderly to their places, the baggage truck and last of all the sleek black "station wagons" to take the passengers to New York as soon as they disembarked.
     Once more the great ship came into view and drifted slowly toward the field.  The supply trucks came up with provisions for the return trip.  The newsreel men perched on top of their autos moved as close to the mast as was permissible.
     Then it was that the storm which had been gathering unnoticed in the excitement broke.  Call it intuition, premonition, or hunch or discount it as after-the-fact fancy, but as I watched the dark clouds creep across the sky until they covered all but the far horizon and saw there in the brilliant sunshine the silver streak, I knew that ship was a creature of fair skies, I knew she must not come into those darkened ones.
     It was such a foolish feeling I dared not express it although I asked my husband:
     "If the rain keeps up will she try to come in?"
     "I think," he answered, "she will not be able to come in until after dark."
                                       Missed Terrible Scene.
     It was then almost 7 o'clock and a year-old baby cannot go forever without her supper, so we went home, fed her and drove back to Lakehurst.  I am glad we did not get there sooner.
     We missed the explosion; we did not see the ship break in two and burst into flames or frantic men and women jump in terror from thirty to fifty feet in the air.  We heard about it from those who did, from those who were forced back in panic by the sudden heat of the flames, and then quickly brought to order and safety by the cool-headed officials.  We did not see her drop suddenly to the ground almost on top of the ground crew, but what we did see was enough.
     Gone was the Hindenburg's serenity, her cool beauty.  She was not even bruised and battered thing which might yet learn to soar again.  She was a white hot furnace, a holocaust of broken cables and twisted and bent frame-work.  Black smoke rolled up from her.  Firemen poured water into her, not to save her from further destruction - there was no hope of that - but that they might beat back the flames long enough that the injured, the dying, the dead might be carried out - those who so recently had looked down through the funny little windows upon the crowd that awaited them.
                                        Still Working in Ruins.
     They still were working to get the bodies out when we left.  Soon they will be able to check the identified victims with the passenger list.  Soon the radio will tell of great heroism, for heroes were made whenever a man went into that flaming mass.  Soon the news reels will show films of the disaster and the newspapers will tell of a young couple awaiting their mother or starting on a glorious adventure and if one at least of the men was going to London for the coronation.  Soon we will have an investigation into the cause of the disaster, and we will be bombarded by possibilities and facts.  But whatever the facts I know this:
     That silver bird in the narrow strip of sunlight was not a creature ______tables.  It belonged in the clear skies.  It was forbidden to enter the stormy grey ones.

- In an August 1980 letter to her grandson, Betty Dillon wrote on page 6: "I wanted news reporting and feature writing but they wouldn't hire women for anything but the womans page at that time (I did get a feature on the crash of the Hindenburg accepted but that wasmore as a stringer, because I was there just before and just after - your Mother was restless so we went home and as I was fixing her bottle we got the news on the radio - we went right back and Grandpa helped while your Mother and I sat in the car - the flames and wreckage were horrible - had we still been there she might have been burned or crushed for we were right in front of the spectators) -

Sunday's Obituary - Wendla Rönning Gafvert

My great-grandmother.  Wendla Eleonora Rönning was the daughter of Per Rönning Johansson and Wendla Sundström.  Wendla and her sister, Klara Susanna Rönning, were born on 17 July 1876 in Strömnäs, Gudmundrå förs., Vasternorrlands Ian, Sweden. 



In 1890, Vendla Eleonora Rönning, b. 1876 in Gudmundrå, Västernorrl. l., was enumerated in the Swedish census with her mother and siblings while living in Hornön, Nora, Västernorrlands.  Her father had died three years earlier:  29 October 1887 in Hornön.

 

received from Paul Fredell

http://www.foark.umu.se/census/y/index.htm



On 9 September 1892, Wendla's mother, Wendla (Sundström) Rönning left Sweden with her youngest child, daughter Hildur, age 8.  Six months later, Wendla's twin sister, Klara, age 14, and youngest brother, Konrad, age 11, emigrated to the U.S.  In November 1894, Wendla's brother, Per Adolf Leonard Rönning, left from Trondheim, Norway to the intermediate stop in Liverpool.  No records have been found for his arrival in Liverpool or the United States.



SS Rhynland

Aboard the SS Rhynland sailing from Liverpool on 26 August 1896 and arriving in Philadelphia on 6 September 1896 was Wendla Ronning, 19, Laborer, Nationality is Sweden, Last Residence - Throndhjem[?].  Wendla's final destination was to McKeesport, PA to join her mother, Wendla Ronning.  Her passage was paid for by her mother, had never been in the U.S., and she had $5.00.

Manifest SS Rhynland
Line 9 - Wendla Ronning

On April 8, 1899, Wendla Ronning married Knut Gafvert in Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania.



[from Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh, PA]



Knut and Wendla Gafvert had four children:  Ellen Ellinora, Elmer G., Lillie Marie, and Theodore O.

Knut and Wendla (Ronning) Gafvert

Wendla Gafvert died 31 March 1945 in McKeesport, Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania at the age of 68.

  

The McKeesport Daily News

Monday Evening, April 2, 1945

Mrs. Wendla Ronning Gafvert, 68, a resident of the city for 45 years, died Saturday evening at her home, 1110 O’Neil Blvd.

  Survivors are her husband, Knut Gafvert, two daughters Mrs. Lillie Johnston, of McKeesport, and Ellen, at home; one son, Theodore, at home; 5 grandchildren and two sisters, Mrs. Clara Fredell of Clairton and Mrs. Hildur Howell of New Galilee, Pa.

  Mrs. Gafvert was born in Sweden, July 17, 1876.  She belonged to the Swedish Methodist Church and its Ladies Aid Society.

  Funeral is to be from the Willig Funeral Home tomorrow at 2 p.m. in charge of the Rev. Melvin J. Na? and burial is to follow in Versailles Cemetery.

FGS - Samuel and Susannah (Dice) Rodenberger

Family Group Sheet for Samuel Rodenberger and Susannah Dice

Husband – Samuel Rodenberger

                        Born:              21 May 1809 in Upper Milford Twp,

                                                    Northampton Co, Pennsylvania

                        Married:         20 March 1829 in Montgomery Co, Ohio

                        Died:              7 October 1845 in Owen Co, Ohio

                        Buried:            Zion Reformed German Church Cemetery,

                                                     Poland, Clay Co, Indiana

                        Parents:          Johannes “John” Rodenberger and Elisabeth __

Wife – Susannah Dice

                        Born:               22 September 1807 in Lundy’s Lane, Canada

                        Spouse 2:        Joel Anderson

                        Marriage:        3 February 1848 in Owen Co, Indiana

                        Died:               12 February 1888 in Brazil, Clay Co, Indiana

                        Parents:           Peter Dice and ______________________

Child 1 – Simon Peter Rodenberger

         M            Born:              13 January 1830 in Ohio

                        Spouse:           Barbara Anderson

                        Married:          About 1847 in Clay Co, Indiana

                        Died:               9 February 1861 in Iowa

                        Buried:           

Child 2 – John Harland Rodenberger

         M            Born:              20 November 1831 in Fayette Co, Indiana

                        Spouse 1:        Elizabeth Lowry Spring

                        Married:          27 April 1854 in Owen Co, Indiana

                        Spouse 2:        Elizabeth Ann Mathews

                        Married:          3 May 1897 in Muskingum Co, Ohio

                        Died:               6 September 1908 in Cherokee Co, Kansas

                        Buried:            McKee Cemetery, Hallowell, Cherokee Co, Kansas

Child 3 – Samuel E Rodenberger

         M            Born:               September 1833 in Indiana

                        Spouse 1:         Frances A E Holliday

                        Married:          10 November 1853 in Owen Co, Indiana

                        Spouse 2:         Isabella Weist

                        Married:           25 May 1884 in Indianapolis, Marion Co, Indiana

                        Died:                1904

                        Buried:             Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Marion Co, Ind.

Child 4 – Mary Elizabeth Rodenberger

         F             Born:               October 1835 in Indiana

                        Spouse:           Henry Sonnefield

                        Married:          16 October 1851 in Owen Co, Indiana

                        Died:

                        Buried:

Child 5 – William H Rodenberger

         M            Born:              1838 in Indiana

                        Died:               Before 19 October 1850 in Owen Co, Indiana

                        Buried:

Child 6 – Moses Rodenberger

         M            Born:               November 1839 in Indiana

                        Spouse:            Josephine Turner

                        Married:          13 February 1867 in Clay Co, Indiana

                        Died:               22 March 1934 in Brazil, Clay Co, Indiana

                        Buried:           

Child 7 – Levi Cornwall Rodenberger

        M             Born:               5 April 1843 in Owen Co, Indiana

                        Spouse 1:         Martha Jane Sherrill

                        Married:          16 June 1872 in Roseburg, Douglas Co, Oregon

Spouse 2:         Sherry Abigail Dean

                        Married:          22 December 1887 in Jacksonville, Jackson Co, Ore.

                        Died:               25 May 1933 in San Francisco,

                                                       San Francisco Co, California

                        Buried: 

Montgomery Co, Ohio marriage records
Last 2 lines - Married on the 20th March 1829 Samuel Rodenberger
and Susannah Dice - by me Simon Reigel M.G.
[Courtesy of Ray Beamer, Family History Library microfilm]

Thriller Thursday - The Death of John Laban Dillon

History of Dillon, Fletcher, and Kindred Families by Henry Dillon, Feb. 23, 1909, p.30
(http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lukedillon/henry.html)
"Robert Edmund, one of the twins of Labon and Jane (Holiday) Dillon, married Julia Cully. . . They had the following family:

        Jennie - married Israel Scott

        John

        Frank

        Ella - married Daniel W. Thompson
        Fred A.
        Albert
        Carl C.

        Edna - born December 9, 1882, married Charles Inskip.

. . . John is said to have two daughters.  He was killed accidentally in California."

Family Group Sheet of the Robert E and Julia (Cully) Dillon Family, 1970s:  "In her correspondence, Margaret Allen (Source 15) often mentioned the Cully look which all the children except Jen had.  "The Cully dip."  "Jno's build was Cully. Not fat but square looking.  Same head as the others but a pair of large bright blue eyes that were the very finest I have ever seen.  His hair, too, was a gorgeous shade of yellow but was not fluffy as his mothers.  Had a viking look . . . " 

 - Margaret Allen was the widow of Frank B. Dillon, a younger brother of John Laban Dillon, who remarried O.O. Allen. -

Transcription of article -

Contra Costa Gazette
Dec. 14, 1907

KILLED AT SOBRANTE
Head Blown Off While Out Hunting.

The Accidental Discharge of a Gun Brought About the Death of Jack Dillon.

     Under the date of Dec. 11th, the following telegram was received from Richmond by the Chronicle:

     Jack Dillon of San Francisco, and formerly of Richmond, was killed today while hunting as a result of the accidental discharge of his gun.  When found he lay in the bottom of his boat, his head partly blown off, and his double-barreled shot-gun lying by his side with one barrel discharged.

     Dillon has been in the habit of going to the Sobrante ranches for a day's outing and to shoot ducks on the game preserves held by farmers of the district.  He and his wife went from San Francisco to a ranch last night.  This morning Dillon went to the preserves at an early hour and was to have returned to the ranchhouse at 9 o'clock.  He did not return, and after a time his friends became anxious and instituted a search for him.

     He was located after a short hunt but was dead when found.  It is not known just when the accident happened, as he was alone, and there were no other hunters in the vicinity.  Coroner Abbott was notified at once and has taken charge of the body, which has been brought to Richmond and where an inquest will be held tomorrow.

     Dillon was employed at San Francisco and resided there, but was a short time ago a resident of Richmond.  His brother, Frank Dillon, lives at Richmond and is an employe of the Standard Oil Company in the offices here.

John's father died on 24 November 1908, about 11 months later.  On 6 September 1913,  John L's brother, Carl C Dillon became the local Edgar Co, Illinois guardian for John's children:  Nola Dillon, age 10 yrs and Lawrence Dillon, aged 8 years.  In a 1918 probate document, Nola Dillon and Lawrence Dillon are listed as residents of Walnut Creek in Contra Costa Co, California. 

Located in the probate file at the Edgar Co, Illinois courthouse, were receipts of moneys received.  One, not dated, was for $25.00 from Carl C Dillon, guardian for Nola and Lawrence, to be used for necessities of above minors and was signed by Louise Dillon. 

Another dated February 26, 1914 was signed by Mrs. J. L. Dillon.

The receipt dated 1928, from C C Dillon, guardian of Lawrence Dillon for $107.66 in full, was signed by Lawrence W. Dillon.



FGS - Seibert E and Marie C (Doumont) Johnston

           

Family Group Sheet for Seibert Ellwood Johnston and Marie Catherine Doumont

Husband – Seibert Ellwood Johnston

                                Born:                      16 July 1877 in McAlevy’s Fort, Huntingdon Co, PA

                                Married:                 8 June 1898 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania

                                Died:                      21 July 1935 in McKeesport, Allegheny Co, PA

                                Buried:                   McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery, McKeesport, PA

                                Parents:                 Henry Howard Johnston and Arminta Agnes Greenawalt

Wife – Marie Catherine Doumont

                                Born:                      15 November 1877 in Belgium

                                Died:                      13 August 1944 in McKeesport, Allegheny Co, PA

                                Buried:                   McKeesport &Versailles Cemetery, McKeesport, PA

                                Parents:                 Desire Francis G Doumont and Rosine Joseph Thierry

Child 1 – Earl S Johnston

          M                  Born:                      22 January 1899 in Leetonia, Columbiana Co, Ohio

                                Spouse:                  Mary Rose Dore

                                Married:                 About 1917

                                Died:                      7 July 1963

                                Buried:                   Mt. Vernon Cemetery, Elizabeth Twp, Allegheny Co, Penn.

Child 2 – Rosine A Johnston

         F                     Born:                      9 August 1900 in Glassport, Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania

                                Spouse 1:              Charles Adams

                                Married:                 Before 26 January 1920

                                Spouse 2:              C. Readel

                                Married:

                                Died:                      28 November 1974 in McKeesport, Allegheny Co, PA

                                Buried:                   Penn Lincoln Memorial Park,

North Huntingdon, Westmoreland Co, Pennsylvania

Child 3 – Ralph Johnston

         M                   Born:                      1903

                                Died:                      About 1905

                                Buried:                   Center Cemetery, Midway, Washington Co, Pennsylvania

Child 4 – Seibert Wallace Johnston

         M                   Born:                      27 September 1908 in Glassport, Allegheny Co, PA

                                Spouse 1:              Lillie Marie Gafvert

                                Married:                20 April 1927 in McKeesport, Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania

                                Spouse 2:              Elizabeth Delores Smith

                                Married:

                                Died:                      14 January 1970 in Johnstown, Cambria Co, PA

                                Buried:                   McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery, McKeesport, PA

Child 5 – Ralph Albert Johnston

         M                   Born:                      31 July 1910 in McKeesport, Allegheny Co, PA

                                Spouse:                  Helen Finney

                                Married:               

                                Died:                      18 April 1967 in McKeesport, Allegheny Co, PA

                                Buried:                   Jefferson Memorial Park

Child 6 – Lloyd Howard Johnston

         M                   Born:                      1 August 1913 in McKeesport, Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania

                                Spouse:                  Mary Berletic

                                Married:               

                                Died:                      25 February 1967 in McKeesport, Allegheny Co, PA

                                Buried:                   McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery, McKeesport, PA

Seibert Johnston and Marie Doumont
Marriage Registration
Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania