Letter from Florence

My previous blog, a brief bio of Howard Van Winkle, is based in part on a letter I received from Cousin Florence (2nd cousin, once removed) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. One of the joys in genealogy is receiving letters from distant relatives. After a few months of working together on writing family history, I often feel a strong kinship with these new found cousins, even though on an organizational chart we are miles apart. After the research is done, I sometimes receive a Christmas card with a small note for a year or two before the relationship drift back to memories.

There is something about receiving a real honest-to-god letter. If we were 20 years down the road, Cousin Florence would have been electronically e-mailing me in some way. Instead I receive a triple folded letter, written in her hand on stationary and with a flow of ink reminiscent of an old style pen.

Even though I extract the relevant facts and incorporate them into my genealogy blogs, the letters convey more information than the writers probably ever consciously intended. The style of handwriting; how penmanship was corrected; how whole words were crossed-out, revised or added-in the margins; all add to meaning. The selection of words; the formation of phrases; the choice and order of subjects; the history and depth of the metaphors also enrich meaning and speak for themselves. I plan on including many of these correspondences in the final ‘Walch Family Book.’ Here's a sample of one of my Dear John letters for now:

[This letter was received following a brief telephone call in which we exchanged the primary genealogy facts, and following a letter I wrote conveying the information I already knew and the questions I still had.]

Cedar Rapids, Iowa
September 9, 2008

Dear John

It was a pleasure to receive your letter. I am very sorry to hear of your affliction, and I admire you for working so diligently on the family history & am grateful to you for extending your endeavors on my behalf.

You can opt for whatever information will suit your purposes concerning my father.

He was a very dear man, full of quick wit & humor as well as being compassionate towards his patients. Those were the days of physicians’ house calls & he was ever so kind to elderly people.
He was in the Army in Atlanta when WW I ended & answer the call to become a pathologist at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids. In 1920 –[day given] I was born and my mother died three or four days after of influenza & pneumonia. He took me at 8 months back to New Jersey to stay with my mother's mother & sister. In 5 years he married the sister of a surgeon with whom we all took up residence. In 1925 [actually 1930] his second wife died. In 1938, he married a nurse. He died of pancreatic cancer in 1947.

My father was an avid tennis player, love classical music and had many friends. He belonged to and participated in medical organizations. He told me one time, when I asked about my forbearers, that it was more important to be self-reliant and not count on them for recognition & success. I wish he had told me more about his early life.

He broadened his medical career from pathology, doing anesthetics, and became a family doctor.
He kept a close relationship with his sister. Elizabeth -- known to us all as Aunt Beth, who lived in Portland, Oregon with her husband Ted Kramer & their family of two boys. She was a nurse, still on duty until 75 years of age.

I remember my father giving a talk on the radio about "The Common Cold" -- in what he said still is true today.

I was always terrified of doctor’s offices with their gleaming steel instruments and was not attentive to the medical world, sorry to say.

I do remember my grandmother telling me that my father sold newspapers on the New York Central Railroad Station, and that at the age of 11, he started saving his earnings towards becoming a physician. He must have admired his grandmother who bought him up, as he cared for her all her life.

I'm sorry not to have statistics of events or achievements.

I eagerly await any information on John Van Winkle, & I'll share it with Richard V.W., Marjory, Sharon & Jenny.

Florence

Howard Lule Van Winkle – Family Physician & Pathologist

Howard Lule Van Winkle was born about 1882 in Yonkers, New York. He was the second son of Elizabeth Walch and Owen Van Winkle. Their first son, Arthur H. who was born about 1878, died sometime after 1800 and probably before Howard had any recollection of him. Howard always stated that he was the oldest and never mentioned Arthur. Howard was orphaned by his parents not long after his sister Elizabeth's birth in 1892. He was around 10 years old. Elizabeth was adopted out; but Howard likely was raised by his maternal grandmother, Elisabeth Charnock Walch. In turn, he would take care of her for the remainder of her life.


Howard sold newspapers at the New York Central Railroad Station around Yonkers and at the age of 11 began saving his earnings for a medical education. After receiving his medical degree Howard worked as a pathologist for the New York City and State Departments of Public Health.

The 1910 US census shows Howard Van Winkle, age 27, a “medical doctor” living at 332 Scott Ave. in Glenolden, Pennsylvania, which is located near of Philadelphia. The household included his young wife Florence (Bailey), 22, who was also born in Yonkers; Florence’s 20-year-old sister, Frances Bailey; his 89-year-old grandmother, Elizabeth Walch; and his one year and five-month-old son, Howard Bailey Van Winkle.


During World War I Howard joined the Army and attained the rank of Major. He was stationed in Atlanta, Georgia where he also worked for the CDC (Center for Disease Control) in a laboratory section located at 120 Juniper Street. He is credited with discovering the cure for Psittacosis, sometimes called Parrot Disease. The disease can be transmitted from infected birds to humans, causing flulike symptoms. While in Atlanta, Howard and Florence lost their second child, Elizabeth, known as Beth.

After the war Howard moved the family to Cedar Rapids, Iowa where he would remain for the rest of his life and where some of his descendents still live. He initially worked as a pathologist at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids but later practiced anesthesiology, and eventually became a general practitioner. A third child, Florence Charnock Van Winkle, was born in 1920 in Cedar Rapids, but her mother would die just a few days after the birth.

Five years later, Howard married Josephine Krause, the sister of a surgeon friend with whom Howard and his family were living. Josephine and Howard had one child, Marjorie, who was born in 1925. After Josephine died in 1930, Howard married again, a nurse, but they had no children.

Howard's daughter Florence wrote this about him, "He was a very dear man, full of quick wit and humor as well as being compassionate towards his patients. Those were the days of physicians’ house calls; and he was ever so kind to elderly people.” She also added that he was an avid tennis player, loved classical music, and had many friends.

The photograph of Howard Van Winkle is courtesy of his daughter Florence Ramsey. The field research photo was taken from a New York state public-health journal sourced in Google books.

Maude Drew's Family History

Photo: Drew Store in Dover, Oklahoma

Several years ago Nathan Drew Allen posted on a genealogy website that he was willing to share a brief family history written by Maude Drew, the daughter of Margaret Walch and Thomas Drew. Unfortunately, the attached e-mail address was no longer valid. So over the last two years I've been searching for Nathan with no luck until about six months ago. I simply found him on Facebook. Nathan and his son Jacob are now my friends on Facebook. (The photo above is part of Nathan's collection.)

Nathan, who is the third-great-grandson of Margaret Walch via Gladys Drew, sent me a dozen or so historic pictures and what he has of the Maude’s Drew history. However the eighth page of the 10 page history is missing. That page most likely addressed the death of Maude's husband and what finally happened in the lives of Maude's immediate family. Maude mentioned that she was writing the history for another branch of the family as well. So, the missing page may surface at a later date.

Following a brief genealogy on page 1, Maude wrote the following:

At the age of 12 years Thomas Drew was apprenticed to a construction company and he learned the stone mason trade. At the age of 21 years he came to the United States and worked at his trade as a stone mason. He became acquainted with the Walch family. About 1873 he and Margaret Walch were married, and they lived in Yonkers, N.Y. About 1874 their first child was born, Stephen Howard Drew. About two years later Alfred Henry Drew was born. Work in the construction business was scarce and Thomas heard about the great West from his friends, the Jordons, who were making plans to go to Kansas and take up a farm at a few dollars an acre. It was government land. It was planned that Thomas would go to Denver, Colorado, where he would get a job. Margaret, her youngest brother Isaiah, age 16, and the two baby boys, Stephen and Alfred, would go to Kansas with the Jordons. Thomas sent money to the family for their living.

The journey for the young mother was rough. She had never been farther west than Yonkers, N. Y. and she knew nothing of the ways of the world and the West. The older boy was a cripple because of a stroke of paralysis when he was a year old. The younger boy was a delicate child and he was sick nearly all the way to Kansas. When they reached Kansas City, they ran into a flood and had to stay there quite some time. At last after a long and hard trip in a wagon drawn by oxen, they reached Wichita, Kansas.

After a while both families took claims several miles from Wichita, but brother Isaac was too young to take a claim. Finally a little shack was built on each claim. It was a rough, tough and lonely life for all, but it was much worse for Margaret with the two baby boys and no husband to help her. But, Isaac did all he could to help her. When Margaret wanted to visit her friends on the next farm, she had to walk and carry the babies. She could not carry both babies at once. So she would carry one child as far as she could go and still keep an eye on both babies. Then she would put the first baby down and then go back and get the other baby. She would carry this baby a little farther than the other one, put him down, and go back and get the other baby. She would do this until she reached her neighbors. By walking this way it meant that she had walked the distance three times. She must have been very lonely to do a thing like that.

Thomas Drew was working as a stone mason in Denver and sending money to support his family. I do not know how or when they proved up on the claim. Finally, Thomas came from Denver to help on the farm. He was surprised and shocked to see and learn of the hardships endured in pioneering a claim. Wild hay grew on the farm and one day it was time to stack the hay on the wagon. They had a horse and wagon. Thomas got up on the wagon to tromp down on the hay and Margaret pitched the hay up onto the wagon. Neither of them knew that to pitch the hay up on the wagon was harder work than to tromp it down. After a while Margaret was exhausted and she could not get the hay up on the wagon. Thomas got angry, sled down off the wagon, and cursed the hay, the horses, the farm, and everything connected with it. He told Margaret to go to the house that she did not belong in the field. He said that neither of them knew anything about a farm and that they were going to live in town. The next day he went to town, got a job with a construction company, rented a house, and soon the family was living in Wichita. It was not long until he went into the construction business for himself. He built a number of stone business buildings in Wichita.

There were stone quarries near the town of Winfield and building stones were taken from these quarries and shipped to the surrounding towns. That explains why there are so many stone buildings in that part of Kansas. The building boom in Wichita slowed down so Thomas went to Caldwell. There he went into the construction business for himself and built a number of stone business building.

At this time he built a stone house of four rooms for his family. He bought an 80 acre farm and also a larger farm and rented them on shares. Land was cheap at that time so that is how he was able to buy the farms. Crops were poor and prices low, so he sold the farms.

The building business in Caldwell died down just as it had in Wichita. So Tom and another man went to the coal business. The business was good, but one day Tom learned that his partner had been cheating both him and the customers. He told his partner that they were separating and that he would either buy or sell the business. The partner decided to buy, so Tom sold the coal business to him.

At this time life in Caldwell was rough and tough. Some tough men had robbed a bank in Dodge City, Kansas and then came to Caldwell and robbed the bank there. A horse-back posse was formed to go after the robbers. Young Isaac was given a horse to ride and he went with the posse to find the robbers. Tom did not go because he did not know how to ride a horse. The robbers got away.

The family was now living in the stone house. Frequently the Indians came to town and sometimes they caused trouble. One day the little boys were playing out in the yard when Margaret heard that the Indians were coming. She brought the boys into the house, pulled down the window shades and took the boys into the bedroom. She huddled with them on the bed and they all kept quiet. The window shades were short and lacked about 3 inches of reaching the bottom of the window. All at once Margaret heard a noise at the window and there looking in the window laughing and laughing and making fun of her was a big Indian. He continued to laugh and make fun of her. Finally he went away without causing her any trouble, but she was badly frightened.

About this time a parcel of land located between Kansas and Oklahoma, which was called the Strip, was opened up by the government for a settlement. Those who wanted to make ‘the run,’ as it was called, lined up on the Kansas line on horseback and at a given signal they made a dash for a claim. The first person on the claim was given that land by the government for $1.25 an acre. There were more men who made the run then there were claims so some men did not get any land. Margaret's brother, William, from New York, made ‘the run’, but he did not get a claim. He got some lots in what was called North Enid, but they were not of much value. North Enid did not prosper and later he became a part of South Enid, or just Enid as it is now called.

About this time a daughter was born to Tom and Maggie Drew. Margaret was being called Maggie now. Tom wanted a girl and he named her before she was born. He named her Maude Mary. The name Maude is an old English name and Mary was for Tom's mother. The daughter was born April 29, 1882. When Maude was nearly 5 years old, Tom wanted his family to go to England so that his mother could see his family. Tom's father had died by this time the family was to go to England in the spring, but in the spring business was not good, so Tom sent his wife, Maggie, sons, Stephen Alfred, and daughter, Maude, to England alone. He said he would come to England in the fall and the family would come back to Kansas together.

Going on such a long journey alone with three small children was a very hard task for Maggie, but they arrived in England in good condition. In the fall, business was still bad, so Tom told Maggie and the children to stay in England until spring when he would come for them. The family lived in England a year. The children went to private schools. The boys were to keep their shoes shined all the time. One day Stephen went to school without shining his shoes and the teacher sent him home to shine his boots, as the English called them. One day Maude had a little dirt under her fingernails and the teacher looked at her hands and asked her "for whom she was wearing mourning." In the spring business was still poor and again Tom did not go to England for the family. Maggie had to make a return trip to Kansas alone with the children. When the family returned to the U.S. the boys, about the age of 11 years and 13 years, were wearing derby hats and carrying canes in true English fashion.

Since the construction business was slack in Caldwell, Tom went to Hennessy, Oklahoma and opened a small grocery store. There was small living quarters above the store. When business increased, the family came from Caldwell to live in these small quarters. The entrance to these rooms was by means of a stairway outside of the building. There was a small porch at the head of the stairs. Tom had not only the grocery business, but he also bought fence posts and rail ties from the farmers and ship them by the carload to the buyers. Many of these new farms had many acres of black jack trees, which had to be cleared off the land before the land could be cultivated. Some Negro and white farmers had much wood to sell. There were other men in town who bought fence posts and railroad ties also, so there was strong competition. Tom soon learned that the men with the wood would arrive in town about the middle of the afternoon. When he thought it was time to for the men to bring in their wood, he would have Maude stand on the little porch at the head of the stairs and watch for the wagons with the wood. When Maude would see a load of wood coming, she would run down the stairs to the store and say, "Papa, Papa, I saw a wagon load of wood coming." Tom would walk out to meet the man with the wood. He would inspect the wood, climb up on the wagon, sit by the driver, and make him a price for the wood. By the time they reached the town, Tom had bought the wood.

After awhile the wood business came to an end. A man wanted to buy a grocery store; so Tom sold and moved to Dover, a small town about 30 miles south of Hennessy. Here he built a larger store building and again went into the grocery business. He built a small house and the family moved to Dover. Watermelons were raised near Dover, so Tom bought watermelons and shipped them by the carload to the buyers. In Dover there was a cotton gin which Tom bought. He bought cotton, had processed at the cotton gin, rolled out into sheets, bailed and shipped by the carload to the buyers. Tom also bought cottonseed and shipped it by the carload. Stephen, called Steve, and Alfred, called Al, worked at the store and Maude went to school. There was no high school in Dover.

Maggie was not well at this time, so she had to have help with the housework. A Negro woman, Ann, was hired to work in the house, and Tom, her husband, was hired to take care of the horses and buggy, work in the yard and clean the store, etc. Al did not smoke, drink, or use bad language. He was just a good young man, so Tom, the Negro, began to call Al “The Preacher,” a name that stayed with them for many years

Steve was frustrated all his life because of his crippled leg. His shoe for that leg was built up very high, and there were steel rods on each side of his leg, which were fastened below the knee by a leather strap. The brace was very heavy and to walk tired him very much. When he was a young boy, he could not run, jump, play baseball, or play any of the games the other boys played. He had to stand on the sidelines and watch. When he had any difficulty with the boys, they would call him “Step Hen” because of his name Stephen and his crippled leg. All of these things could not help but have an influence on his personality. In spite of everything, he was very successful in business. When Steve was 18 years old, he was keeping company with a nice girl, Maude Hughes, who was about the same age, and a year later they were married. Three daughters were born to them: Ruth, who died at the age of one year; Edith, who died at the age of 19 years; Grace, who lives in Prescott, Arizona. After graduating from high school, Grace taught school for several years. Then, because of failing health, she went to Prescott, Arizona, where she met Francis Bumpus whom she married. Some years later she graduated from the University of Arizona at Tucson. She received a position at the University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, where she taught for many years. Francis Bumpus died in 1965.

At the age of 18 years Alfred attended the Gem City business college at Quincy, Illinois, where he took the business course. While there he kept company with a girl whom he seemed to like very much. When he graduated, his mother went to see him. At this time Alfred was offered a position in a bank in New York City, in which he seemed much interested. However, his father had started a store in Waukomis, Oklahoma and he wanted Alfred to take over the store. He told Alfred he would give the store to him if he would come back to Oklahoma. The girlfriend said she would live in New York, but she would not live in Oklahoma. So Al had to make a decision between the girl and what his father wanted him to do. Al went back to Oklahoma and the girlfriend stayed by her decision not to live in Oklahoma.

A young man by the name of Ryer Wren managed the store until Al took over. He worked for Al for 20 years or longer. A girl by the name of Cora Riley lived with her parents on a farm not far from Waukomis. She came to the store often to sell butter and eggs. She and Al became acquainted and soon they were married. Two daughters were born to them. Gladys, the older, attended the University of Kansas for a while, then she met and married Wayne Allen. One son was born to them, Richard Drew Allen. Glad died in [1951]. The other daughter, Audine, attended the University of Oklahoma. After she graduated from the University, she taught school for a short time, and then she married H. B. Prewitt, who also graduated from the University of Oklahoma. Three children were born to them: Drew Ann, who lives in Philadelphia; Richard, who is married to Barbara Gattiker and lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia; Robert, who graduated from Temple University, joined the Army and is stationed in Germany. Audine and H. B. Prewitt live in Wyncote , Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia.

Al never was very strong and at one time his doctor advised him to go to California for a rest and a change of climate. After several months there he seemed to be better. After several more years in business his health still was very poor and his doctor advised him to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, which he did. After examining him, the doctor told him he was constitutionally weak and they advised him to give up business, rest a few years and then go into some other line of work. He talked with his mother about this and he said he had always wanted to study law, that he had enough money for the family to live on until he finished the law course and became established in that work. He continued to think about this, but for some reason he never made the change. He died December 1918 at the age of 40 years. Whether he could have lived longer if he had made a change no one will ever know. Cora Riley Drew died in [1965].

When Maude, who is the youngest and last surviving member of the family, finished grade school in Dover, her mother Maggie talked about them living in a town where there was a high school so Maude could attend a high school. Maggie made arrangements with the school teacher in Dover to instruct Maude for two hours every evening in the studies she would have in high school. For doing this the teacher was to receive her room and board. They did this for two months or longer. At this time Steve wanted the business by himself. The stone business building in Caldwell was vacant but the little stone house was rented. Tom decided to take a few thousand dollars from the business, go to Caldwell and start in business over again. He gave the business, the store, and a house in Dover to Steve, and Tom took cash. So Tom, Margaret, and Maude went to Caldwell. Maude's mother was doing what she always said she would do. She said she would never raise her daughter in Dover where there was no high school and nothing for the young people to do but to get into trouble. In Caldwell Tom was busy buying goods and getting ready to start the business. Margaret and Maude fixed up the rooms over the store for their living quarters.

The first part of December Maude entered high school with the understanding that she make up all the work she had missed and that she keep up with her class. It was hard work, but in the spring she finished the year’ work with her class.

It was tough going for Tom and Margaret, too. The other stores presented a new store coming to town and they did everything they could to hurt Tom's business. One day, Tom had some handbills printed stating some of the things the other merchants had done to hurt his business. On Saturday when the farmers came to town Tom went up and down Main Street handing these handbills to the people and putting them into the farmers’ wagons. This proved to be a good thing and Tom's business got better and better. Maude worked in the store on Saturdays, holidays, and during vacation from school. Tom store was finally a success.

In high school I was taken into ‘the crowd.’ Everyone in the crowd had bicycles but Maude had none and she had never been on a bicycle. Her father bought a bicycle from the wholesale house, and evenings after the store had closed Maude and her father would go to the store. Her father would hold the bicycle; Maude would get on, and with her father holding the bicycle they would go up and down the store or an hour. After a few times Maude could ride and she joined the crowd in riding around town in the summer evenings.

The stone house was now vacant and Tom, Margaret and Maude went there to live. Maude wanted to be like the other girls and take music lessons, but they had no piano. Tom bought a piano at wholesale price and Maude took music lessons. At the age of 16, going to high school, and working in the store, Maude did not have much time for music lessons, but she did learn something. Sixteen is late to try to learn music; a child should start at the age of six. Maude was president of her class when she graduated from high school. She gave an oration, with a few other members of the class the night a graduation in the Opera House. It must have been some oration. Ha, ha; now Maude thought she would like to study music.

After high school Maude attended a small Methodist College in Warrenton, Missouri. After living at the dormitory for a while, she went to live with a private family and helped with the housework for her board room. She was with this family during all her college days. She also made a little money by grading papers for the class in Harmony, and in teaching a few first grade students in piano. She also took a course or two in the Liberal Arts Department.

In college she met George Henry Von Tungeln, who worked all his way through college and they became engaged to marry. After college George received a scholarship to Northwestern University in Chicago. Maude had one more year after she received the certificate in music and after George received the A.B. degree before she was granted the A.B. degree. Then Maude went to Caldwell and taught music and George went to Harvard University on a Fellowship.

George did not finish the course at Harvard for the Ph.D. degree. He was given a position at the Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa to establish a Department of Sociology. So George and Maude got married; they never had any children. George taught at the university for 30 years. Just before they were married brother Al told them that if they could select their furniture from Butler Brothers catalog they could have it at wholesale prices. They were glad to... [Page 8 is missing.]

[Continued on Page 9] ... Was not alone because she had some wonderful friends who stood right by her during those days of grief. After it was all over, some friends suggested that she rent the upstairs of her home to young professors. Other friends suggested that she make the upstairs into an apartment and rent it and she live downstairs. She did not like either of these suggestions.

During the next few days she was offered several positions at the University. The persons who offered these positions felt that Maude was qualified because after George received the doctor's degree Maude entered the Graduate School of the University and after two years of work she was granted the Masters Degree. During those two years at the University she did much studying in the University Library. That helped to prepare her for the work she was to do later. She accepted a position in the University Library. Sometime later a friend who had lost her husband several years earlier and her son recently in the war suggested that she and Maude go to Arizona for a change of everything. So Maude resigned her position at the University and she and her friend drove Maude's car to Tucson, Arizona.

After being in Tucson a few weeks Maude happened to meet the Director of the new Student Union Building at the University of Arizona. He said that in two weeks they would open the Browsing Library and the Music Listening Department in the Student Union. A short time later he offered Maude the position of being in charge of this new department. She had complete charge of the Browsing Library and the Music Listening work as well as all other work in that Department. She must have been successful because she was there six years and when she resigned the Director asked her if she would consider staying longer. She enjoyed the work and she was very sorry to give it up. However, since she must depend on herself, she felt that the time had come for her to make plans for the future so she went to Santa Barbara, California to the Samarkand, which is a residence for retired people, where she is now living.

In the life of every member of the family there have been times of happiness and times of grief, times of good health and times of illness, times of joy and times of sorrow, times of success and times of failure, but all of this is a part of life and a part of living.

Those members of the family who have a deep, abiding faith in a Divine, Supreme, Heavenly Father know that God has led them along the path way of life, and that God will be with them until the end of the journey of life.

Note –
This brief history of the family of Thomas William Drew and Margaret Walch Drew was written by their daughter Maud Drew Von Tungeln. The first part of the manuscript was told to the writer by her mother. The remainder is factual knowledge of the writer. Many details had been given, but more details had been omitted. Some of the dates given are not absolutely correct, but they are not far off from the exact date.

Audine Drew Prewitt requested the writer, her aunt, to give her some information about the family and that is what the writer has attempted to do. The writer realizes that this is not a first-class manuscript, but only an attempt to let the members of the family know something about the family history. This typewriter has misbehaved and the writer is not a trained typist, so there have been difficulties in writing this history. The reader has permission to correct all mistakes.

To each member of the family who reads this brief history the writer sends her love.

Maude Drew von Tungeln
Santa Barbara, California
January, 1967