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

Maude Drew – A Scholar and Professor's Wife

Maude Mildred Drew was the youngest and only daughter of Thomas Drew and Margaret Walch. She was born in April 1882 in Caldwell Kansas. Both the 1900 and 1910 US censuses show Maude living with her parents on Webb Street in Caldwell. In 1910, the 27-year-old Maude was teaching piano, most likely out of her parents’ home. She may have already obtained a bachelor’s degree by that time. She also may have graduated from Central Wesleyan College in Warrenton, Missouri, where her future husband obtained his bachelor's degree. In any case, she is the first woman in the Walch family to earn a college degree.

At the age of 32, Maude married George Henry Von Tungeln, 33, a Harvard PhD graduate and recently hired assistant professor of sociology at Iowa State College. Following the marriage they moved to Ames, Iowa, where they resided until 1944.

Dr. George von Tungeln was an early pioneer of rural sociology, and served as Chair of the Rural Sociology Section of the American Sociological Society. By 1932, Dr. Von Tungeln was Head of the sociology section of the Department of Economics and Sociology at Iowa State College, and had gained national prominence for his work. Maude also furthered her study at Ames and in 1929 became the 12th recipient of an MS degree in Sociology at Iowa State University.

George died suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1944 at 61 years of age as he was completing his thirty-first year as a member of the Iowa State College faculty. In 1969, Maude established an Iowa State University scholarship in honor of her husband, which is now called The George Henry and Maude Drew Von Tungeln Scholarship. Maude died in 1973 in Santa Barbara California at 91 years of age. It is believed that Maude and George had no children because there were no children listed in census reports.

The photograph above is Maude Drew with her mother, Margaret Walch

. . .

A few years ago I found the following posted on the Internet: “I have recently come upon a family history written, and passed on by, Maude Drew von Tungeln. If anybody has a contact for her, or a relative who may know of her, please email me.” The posting was written by Nathan Drew Allen, 34, a descendent of Gladys (Drew) Allen. Unfortunately, Nathan's e-mail address is no longer valid, and all attempts to contact him or his parents have failed. If anyone knows his whereabouts and contact information, please let me know. I very much would like to incorporate Maude’s family history into the Walch history.

Alfred Henry Drew -- Merchant of Waukomis

Alfred Henry Drew was the younger son and second child of Tom Drew and Margaret Walch. He was born in New York in 1876 and moved to Kansas with his family when he was about three years old. He grew up in Caldwell and, like his brother Stephen, he moved to Oklahoma as a young man, where he operated a general store in partnership with his father. Alfred's general store was located in Waukomis which is located 9 miles south of Enid and 21 miles north of Dover, where his brother also operated a general store.

In 1898 at 20 years of age, Alfred married Cora Bell Riley, 18, in Enid, Oklahoma. They were living in Waukomis in 1900 with their one-year-old daughter Gladys. At that time, Alfred declared that he owned the general store free and clear of mortgage. Their second daughter and last child, Audine H. Drew, was born in 1906 in Waukomis. The census record shows the family was still living on Main Street in Waukomis in 1910.

Alfred died at the early age of 42, six days before Christmas in 1918. At the time Cora was 40 years old; Gladys, 18; and Audine 11. Cora died in 1965 and was buried with Alfred in the Waukomis Cemetery.

Gladys Drew married Richard Wayne Allen of Enid in about 1920. By 1930 they were living in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Gladys and Richard had at least one son: Richard Drew Allen. Richard eventually moved to San Diego, California, where he worked as an aerospace engineer. Little else is known about Gladys's life except that she was buried alongside her parents in the Waukomis Cemetery in 1951.

Alfred’s youngest daughter, Audine Hildred Drew, married Hosea Balleau Prewitt in Flint, Michigan, in 1921. They were still living in Flint in 1930, where H.B Prewitt worked as a wholesale heating salesman and engineer. They eventually moved east where their three children settled, in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Audine died in 2005 at age 98 in Chesterfield, Virginia, where her son Robert Drew Prewitt lives.

The above photograph is thought to be Alfred standing next to his father Thomas Drew.

Stephen Drew - Merchant of Dover

Stephen Howard Drew, the oldest son of Tom Drew and Margaret Walch, was born in August 1874 in New York and would later write that his left leg was deformed due to infantile paralysis. He came out to Kansas with his parents when he was about 4 years old and grew up in the rugged cattle town of Caldwell. He spent most of his work life as a merchant store operator, a career he most likely began in his father's grocery store in Caldwell.

Stephen's father Tom took part in the first Oklahoma Land Rush and staked a claim in Hennessey. Stephen and his brother Alfred, most likely with their father's assistants, established general stores nearby the town of Hennessey. Stephen store was in Dover which is located 10 miles directly south of Hennessey. Alfred’s store was located 12 miles north of Hennessey in Waukomis, Oklahoma. Their proximity most likely helped them to share delivery cost and purchase baulk goods at discount.

Nineteen-year-old Stephen may have already been living in Dover in 1893 when he married 18 year-old Maude Hughes in Enid, Oklahoma, which is located 30 miles north of Dover. Stephen and Maude had three daughters: Edith, born in 1894; Ruth, in 1896; and Grace, in 1899. Ruth died tragically at 11 months of age and was buried in the Dover cemetery. In the 1900 US census, Stephen, 25, and Maude, 26, are listed as operating a general merchandise store in Dover. Their home was free and clear of mortgage; and they were well enough off to support a live-in maid.

Unfortunately, the marriage ended sometime before 1908, the year that Stephen, then 32, married Grace, a 28-year-old previously married woman. That marriage ended by 1920, when in the census of that year Stephen is listed as “divorced” and was living in a boarding house in Dover. By 1930 Stephen, 53, was living with his third wife, Irene, 32. His general store was now referred to as a grocery store.

Dover was first called Red Fork. It was located on the Chisholm Trail, which originally was a freight trail that crossed the Oklahoma Indian Territory, linking Texas and Kansas. A railroad was built along the trail; and a station built at Red Fork to service locomotives. Its name then was changed to Dover Station. In the 1889 Land Rush, Dover Station was part of newly created Kingfisher County and became a “boom” town overnight. However, the nearby Hennessey Station was more successful in attracting business. As a result, Dover’s boom population dissipated over the next several decades.

During Stephen Drew’s life three events in Dover made national news. The first was the Dover train robbery by the “Wild Bunch,” a gang composed of the Doolin Gang and former members of the Dalton Gang. In April 1895 the gang boarded the Rock Island train at Dover and robbed the express car. Around two o’clock that afternoon, a posse caught up with them at a camp near Ames. Tulsa Jack Blake was killed in the shootout. The rest of the gang scattered, never to reunite as a gang.

A second notable robbery occurred in Dover almost thirty-seven years later. In January 1932, the infamous Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd robbed the banks in Paden and Castle on the same day, and robbed the bank in Dover the next day.

But perhaps the most notable event occurred in September 1906. Just south of Dover, heavy rains washed away a bridge one night as the Rock Island train from Texas bound for Kansas came through. All but one car plunged into the Cimarron River. Of the 225 passengers aboard, over 100 lost their lives, making it one of the most deadly train accidents in history.

Stephen's first wife and daughters moved to Wichita, Kansas following the divorce. Maud raise the girls there as a single parent. Edith Drew was living in Wichita with her mother in 1930. Her whereabouts after that date are currently unknown. Her sister Grace Drew was married in Prescott, Arizona, in 1931 to Amos Francis Bumpa; but there's nothing further known about Grace and whether she or Edith had descendents. After 1930 Stephen’s whereabouts are also unknown. He was not buried in the Dover Cemetery so he likely moved on.

Today, Dover is a town of only a few businesses, boarded-up storefronts, and a population of 362, but it did have a spectacular aurora display. The photograph of that display (above) was taken by Dave Ewolt. The photograph of the couple above is believed to be that Stephen Drew and a second wife Grace. It is an excerpt from a previously posted family group photograph courtesy of Cait Hendron, Stephen Drew's 1st cousin three times removed

Walch Sisters – Lost, Found & Persevered

I posted historic family group photographs about a month ago and asked if anyone could identify the family members. Grace Walch and her daughter Dorothy Benkendorf were the only people who were previously identified, (right side of the photo above). Recently, I took another look at the photograph and use Dorothy's approximate age to deduce which cousin is standing next to her. As it turns out, John Harold Mendenhall is the only male cousin of the right age to fit. The woman behind him therefore is most likely Jessie Walch as an adult.

As a genealogist I am sometimes asked what has struck me the most doing family research. My short answer is: perseverance. I am continuously amazed by the tragic and seemingly devastating events that some family members have experienced over their lives; and by their ability to adjust and get on with living.

Grace Walch appears to be a case in point. She was 27 years old when her first husband died. She then remarried but experienced a divorce. At age 51, she grieved the loss of her 27-year-old and only child, Dorothy. And, when she was age 78, her third husband died after 27 years of marriage.

Actually I don't have to go deep into history to uncover such tragedies. My own sisters have been widowed and one has experienced the death of a 29-year-old son. They too have shown resilience. I think that in some ways this knowledge of our family’s perseverance and resiliency serves to booster our own defense system. We will not be spared the pain of tragedy, but should feel less abandoned and hopeless in its wake.

Grace Walch, Daughter of James

Grace was born on June 4, 1885 in Winfield, Kansas and, except for six years in Wichita, spent her entire life there. On June 16, 1908, at age 23, Grace was married in Winfield to Ernest A. Benkendorf, 29, the son of Wilhemina Arndt and Julius Benkendorf, a Prussian emigrant miller. Ernest was a real estate broker in Winfield whose early career was interrupted by tuberculosis. He died at age 33 in California where he had gone for treatment. Grace and Ernest had one child, Dorothy.

Grace then married Peter Hickerson, a photographer who operated a studio in Winfield. They had no children and eventually divorced. In October of 1936, 51-year-old Grace married Charles Gaines in Ozark, Missouri. Charles, who was a widower with two grown sons, worked as a building contractor in Wichita. In that same month of 1936 Grace's only child Dorothy died at the early age of twenty-six. Grace's grief may have been somewhat lightened by the fact that Dorothy had three children before she died. Grace and Charles lived in Wichita for six years, before moving to Winfield. Grace was no doubt well known in downtown Winfield for she worked as a saleswoman for Calvert’s Department Store for about 18 years.

Charles died in 1963 at the age of 83 in Winfield. Grace died three years later at age 81 on June 7, 1966 in Winfield and is buried near her parents in Union Cemetery.

Dorothy Benkendorf’s daughter, Mary Louise Mackensen and her two daughters- Cait and Christine Hendron - have been very active in researching Walch history. They were the source, via Cait, for much of the James Walch history and for all the Winfield photographs.

The photograph above is Grace Walch and her daughter Dorothy Benkendorf. The photograph is courtesy of Cait Hendron of Glendale, Arizona.

Jessie Amelia Walch, Daughter of James

This begins a new section of the Walch history. Having finished the lives of Stephen Walch and Elizabeth Charnock’s children, we now turn to the next generation of cousins.

Jessie Walch was born in 1877 in New York and raised in Winfield, Kansas. In about 1903 at age 25, Jessie married John W. Mendenhall, son of Isaac Mendenhall and Emily M. Paris. John was born in Missouri in 1874 and moved with his family to a farm in Liberty Township of Cowley County when he was about four years old. Jessie and John had three children, all of whom were born in Kansas: Howard W., John Harold, and Pansy. Following Pansy’s birth in about 1911, the Mendenhalls moved to Las Animas, Colorado, where John operated a plumbing shop. They lived at 348 Saint Vrain Ave in Las Animas in 1920 and 1930. They also lived for a time in Grand Junction, Colorado. John died in 1945 at age 74. Jessie died in 1961 at age 84 and was buried beside John in the Las Animas Cemetery. At this time there is nothing known about their descendents.

The photograph is Jessie with her younger sister Grace. The photograph is courtesy of Cait Hendron of Glendale, Arizona, a great-grandniece of Jessie Walch.

The Oklahoma Land Rush -- The Walch Claims

On March 23, 1889 President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed that a two million acre region in the heart of the Indian Territory was open for settlement. The land, which was previously set aside for Indian relocation, was surrounded by tribal owned land: The Cherokee Outlet on the northern Kansas border; the Iowa, Kickapoo, and Pottawattamie reservations on the east; the Chickasaw Nation on the southern border; and the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Reservation on the western border.

Less than a month later the largest accumulations of would-be settlers massed along the Kansas border, primarily at the railroad towns of Arkansas City and Caldwell. On April 18th the crowds at Arkansas City and Caldwell were escorted by U.S. Army troops across the Cherokee Outlet to the border of the ‘Unassigned Land.’ The Caldwell crowd was composed of 10,000 farmers, cowboys, and old soldiers in buggies, covered wagons, and on horseback. They helped one another ford the Cimarron River before making final camp at Buffalo Springs north of Kingfisher. On Easter Sunday, the day before the land rush, the camp took on a festive atmosphere; following religious services, foot races were held and baseball played.

The rail station at Guthrie and the land office at Kingfisher were two sites of choice for settlers and town site corporations. They also were the sights of choice for the Walch family. William W. Howard, writing for Harper's Weekly, followed the crowd to Guthrie:

"In some respects the recent settlement of Oklahoma was the most remarkable thing of the present century. Unlike Rome, the city at Guthrie was built in a day. To be strictly accurate in the matter, it might be said that it was built in an afternoon. At twelve o'clock on Monday, April 22nd, the resident population of Guthrie was nothing; before sundown it was at least ten thousand. In that time streets had been laid out, town lots staked off, and steps taken towards the formation of a municipal government. At twilight the campfires of ten thousand people gleamed on the grassy slopes of the Cimarron Valley where the night before the coyote, the gray wolf, and the deer had roamed undisturbed. Never before in the history of the West has so large a number of people been concentrated in one place in so short a time. To the conservative Eastern man, who is wont to see cities grow by decades, the settlement of Guthrie was magical beyond belief; to the quick acting resident of the West, it was merely a particular lively town-site speculation.”

“The preparations for the settlement of Oklahoma had been complete, even to the slightest detail, for weeks before the opening day. The Santa Fe Railway, which runs through Oklahoma north and south, was prepared to take any number of people from its handsome station at Arkansas City, Kansas, and to deposit them in almost any part of Oklahoma as soon as the law allowed; thousands of covered wagons were gathered on camps on all sides the new Territory waiting for the embargo to be lifted. In its picturesque aspects the rush across the border at noon on the opening day must go down in history as one of the most noteworthy events of Western civilization. At the time fixed, thousands of hungry home-seekers, who gathered from all parts of the country, particularly from Kansas and Missouri, were arranged in a line along the border, ready to lash their horses into furious speed in the race for fertile spots in the beautiful land before them. The day was one a perfect peace. Overhead the sun shone down from the sky as fair and blue as the cloudless heights of Colorado. The whole expanse of space from zenith to horizon was spotless in its blue purity. The clear spring air, through which the rolling green billows of the promised land could be seen with unusual distinctiveness for many miles, was as sweet and fresh as the balmy atmosphere of June among New Hampshire's hills.”

“As the expected home-seekers waited with restless patience, the clear, sweet notes of a calvary bugle rose and hung a moment upon the startled air. It was noon. The last barrier of savagery in the United States was broken down. Moved by the same impulse, each driver lashed his horses furiously; each rider dug his spurs into his willing steed, and each man on foot caught his breath hard and darted forward. A cloud of dust rose where the home-seekers had stood in line, and when it had drifted away before the gentle breeze, the horses and wagons and men were tearing across the country like fiends."

All was not milk and honey when the boomers reach the promised land. Much of the land around Guthrie station was already staked out by "Sooners" which included US Marshals and railroad workers. The rules which made them ineligible for claims were simply ignored. It was fortunate that alcohol was prohibited in the new territory, said one reporter, because blood surely would have filled the newly forming streets otherwise.

John Walch may have been one of those Sooners, for after all he was a railroad man. And his brother-in-law Tom Drew in Caldwell may have used his influence to get there sooner as well. As mentioned before, William Walch later submitted a billing to the Guthrie Board of Education for his labor during the construction of its first school. It cannot be said for certain that any of the Walchs participated in the rush itself, but a year later in the First Territorial Census of Oklahoma of 1890, Thomas Drew and James Walch were property owners in Hennessey of Logan County and in Guthrie of Logan County, respectively. As claimants under the 1862 Homestead Act they could have been granted title up to 160 acres of public land if they remain on it, “improved” and developed it for five years. They most likely kept their primary residencies in Caldwell and Winfield, and stayed on their claim land to meet minimum residency requirements. Although in the case of Tom Drew, he may have made a longer commitment to the claim because his two sons eventually operated general stores in the towns immediate north and south of Hennessey - which we will turn our attention to in a future blog.


For William W. Howard’s full article in Harper's Weekly, (18 May 1889), go to www.library.cornell.edu/Reps/DOCS/landrush.htm

Another Methodist amongst Us – John Wesley Walch

I received several e-mails from Walch kin, two of which I would like to share with you now, both from the great granddaughters of John W. Walch. Their father, John Arnett Walch, died this April at the age of 92 in Seiling, Oklahoma. I talked to him by phone a few years ago. He was very helpful in providing family background information, including the fact that the family sometimes used the name Welch when they lived in New York. It was this tip that helped me locate them in census records. Jack also put me in contact via e-mail with his daughter Barbara Ann Walch of Tishomingo, Oklahoma, who provided more information.

I recently came across Jack's obituary on the Internet which prompted me to write to Barbara to assure that I still had a connection to this branch of the family. She e-mailed me back today as did her sister Mary Louise Walch of Charlotte, North Carolina. Mary Lou provided some additional information about her grandfather Earl Walch and her father Jack. I'll include it in brief biographies of them which will be subjects of future blogs. But for now I like to share a bit of Mary Lou's correspondence: “Our grandfather is Earl “Pop” Leslie Walch who lived in Cherokee Oklahoma… [And in regard to his father John W. Walch], I thought his name was John Wesley Walch, and that he was known as ‘Little Jack’. Curiously, our families are still Methodist, and it was very interesting to read all the Methodist connection." Mary Lou went on to say that she never thought there were any other Walch kin in the world so she found this history quite interesting.

Of course, we all know that John Wesley (1703-1791) was a famous Anglican minister and theologian, and an early leader in the Methodist movement, (See photo above). So, we now know that Elisabeth Charnock Walch did not name one but two of her sons after famous Methodist leaders.

One time I said that Fletcher was a name that we should keep in circulation in the family. Wesley is another one -- although Wesley Walch seems a bit too alliterated. In most branches of the family that combination would not occur, for with the passing of John Arnett Walch only one branch of the Walch family tree now bears the surname Walch, that branch being the descendents of William Fletcher Walch.

. . .

I have one more blog to finish on the first generation of Kansas Walchs. I'll then turn my attention to the next generation of cousins, which is my grandfather's generation. I will then add a few miscellaneous biographies to complete the Walch family history. Hopefully some of you will help in this endeavor.

As we move closer to current generations I will be more cautious about personal information, given security problems created by the Internet. Of course any good conman or identity thief can learn almost anything about you from existing and readily available information on the Internet. But I don't want to add to it. So I will only use the maiden names of living Walch cousins in this phase of the history. If you want to communicate with any of them, e-mail me and I'll make the connection.

Ike Walch of Caldwell, Kansas

Isaac Peter Walch was the seventh and last child of Stephen Walch and Elizabeth Charnock. He was born in 1863 most likely in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. His older sister Maggie, who was 13 years old at the time, would have helped in the care of her infant brother; and it was possibly that early bonding which cemented a lifelong relationship between the two.

At about the age of 16 Isaac, known as Ike, immigrated with his sister and brothers to Kansas. During the 1880 US Census of Caldwell, Kansas, Ike was living with his sister Maggie’s family and was working as a stonemason, most likely for his brother-in-law Tom Drew.

In about 1883 at the age of 20, Ike married a farmer’s daughter, Julia A. Booth, from nearby Bluff Township. In March 1885, Ike, Julia, and their six-month-old daughter Lillian were living next door to the Thomas and Maggie Drew family. He was still working as a stonemason at that time. Ike and Julia eventually had two more children: Viola, around 1885 and Isaac, Jr., in February 1887. Viola died in infancy and was buried in the Caldwell Cemetery.

If there were slow periods in the stone masonry business, Ike may have worked on the railroads as well. Caldwell in the late 1880s had become a major railway shipping point for cattle and was now home for many railroad workers. In any case, his work career was brief, for he died in 1889 at 26 years of age. He was the youngest and first of the Kansas Walch brothers to die. His wife Julia was 25 at the time and their two children Lillian and Ike, Jr. were 5 and 2 years old.

Two years after Ike’s death, Julia married Frank Robieson and had two more children: Frank, Jr., born in 1894 and Agnes, born in 1895. By 1900, the family was living at 710 E. 19th St. in Winfield. Frank was working as a mechanic and Julia as a bookkeeper at the time.

Julia died on September 3, 1947 in Winfield, 11 days before her 83rd birthday. She was buried in Graham Cemetery in Winfield near the grave of her father Wiley Booth.

Ike Walch, Sr., was buried in the Caldwell Cemetery next to the graves of his infant daughter Viola and his sister Margaret.

. . .

Two family branches carry a story of a Walch family member being hung for horse thievery. If there is any truth to those rumors, then Ike would be the likely candidate, given the brevity of his life and the common practice of such hangings around Caldwell during his time. If ranch hands caught an individual with either a stolen horse or cattle, they were often hung on the spot without trial. However, there is no proof whatsoever that this was Ike’s fate. It simply may have been a good yarn.

William F. Walch – Minister of God & Drugs (Part II)

On June 9, 1880 the census taker found W. F. Walch, 22, living alone at his home in Harper Township. Under the heading Occupation the census taker simply wrote that W. F. was "at home." Normally he would have written "unoccupied" for the able that were unemployed. So, what was occupying W.F. on that June 9th? Possibly, he was settling his affairs in Harper just three months after he moved there. A week before on June 2nd William Fletcher Walch had married Caroline "Carrie” Leasure, 22, in Pawnee County, Kansas. Carrie was the daughter of John Boyd Leasure a shoemaker and cobbler in Larned. William had returned from Larned that week, a distance of 120 miles, and left the care of his bride to her family.

William eventually returned to his wife in Larned where their first child was born on the 20th of March in 1881. William Wilbur Walch, who was called Will, said he was born in a sod house -- the ‘starter home’ for newlyweds in Kansas at that time.

Prairie grasses covered much of Kansas then -- Big Bluestem, Switchgrass, and Buffalo Grass, just to name a few. Over centuries of grow, these grasses created a thick, root-bound turf that was tough yet flexible, and was a ready building material where lumber was in short supply. The sod was cut into thick squares and stacked as building blocks. The most primitive were simply igloo-like dwellings, but most were rectangular, sod walls supporting a beamed roof, which was also covered in sod. A wooden door and a window or two completed the structure. One drawback was that it often leaked, leading to wet bedding and clothing after a heavy rain. Not the most hygienic home, but it proved to be cool in the hot Kansas summer and warm in the winter. But as soon as they could afford it, a farm family would build a lumber frame house and leave the sod house to slowly decay.

In 1800, the city of Larned was a bustling cow town on the Santa Fe Trail, just 60 miles up the trail from Dodge City. In 1878, Larned was the largest city in Pawnee County with a population of 716, which was 40 percent of the county population. Larned was first settled just eight years before William Walch arrived, and was growing at such a rate that the agricultural production in the county had increased by more than 2,708 percent in the four years prior to his arrival. The Walchs would add one more child to this boom: Lizzie Belle Walch on the 26th of June 1883. The following year, the 1884 Kansas State Census shows the W. F. Walch family of four living in the city of Larned, where William was working as a druggist.

On January 28, 1887 William and Carrie’s last child was born in Topeka, Kansas: Stephen Fletcher Walch (my grandfather). Two years later William was likely the same W. Walch who submitted a bill for $2.70 for 18 hours of labor on the construction of the first school in Gutherie, Oklahoma - the same town in the same year his brother James staked a claim in the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889.

When Stevie Walch was a young boy his father left home to ostensibly find better work. It is not known whether the marriage was strained before he left or if the time away took its toll. In any case William never returned home; and the marriage dissolved.

William may have gone to California for a time but eventually returned to Hastings-on-Hudson where he stayed with his mother. By 1900, 42-year-old William was living in Baltimore, Maryland, on 1001 Scott St. with his new wife, Alice Z. Walch, 37, of New York. He was working as a drug clerk at the time.

William died in 1906 at age 48 in a streetcar accident in Poughkeepsie, New York. It was said that he was buried there in Union Cemetery but the cemetery record does not list him. Perhaps he was buried alongside other family members in Hastings. In any event, his wife Alice returned to Yonkers where she was working as a hotel housekeeper in 1910.

Back in Arkansas City, Kansas, William children were fathered by their Grandfather John Leisure, who had moved to “Ark City.” There was at least one upside to William's absence: years later his son Stephen said his deep sense of abandonment as a child helped to steady him through rough periods of his own marriage, the rough periods all marriages inevitably encounter.

The first photo above is Main Street of Larned, Kansas, in 1880. The William Walch family photograph is courtesy of Anne Haskin of Lansing, Michigan, William’s great-granddaughter. Click on photo to enlarge.

William F. Walch – Minister of God & Drugs (Part I)

William Fletcher Walch, the sixth child of Stephen Walch and Elizabeth Charnock, was born on November 8, 1857 in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He was named in honor of John William Fletcher, an early Methodist theologian, whose early writings on piety were popular among Methodist at that time.

William's early years were spent in Hasting. Around 1878 at the age of 20, he went to Kansas either at the same time as his sister Elizabeth's family or shortly after. And like his brother James, he would have ridden the train to Wichita and then walked the 60 miles to Caldwell. He may have gone to help the Drews build their new home in Caldwell or possibly to work in his brother-in-law's fledging construction business. Whatever his reasons for going he didn't stay in Caldwell long. In 1880 William moved further west to neighboring Harper County.

The Rev. W. F. Walch of Harper, Kansas

The Methodists were among the first denominations in Kansas. Their method for expansion called for established churches to raise missionary funds to support young Methodist circuit riders who rode from settlement to settlement, through the nearly unbroken wilderness to organize congregations. For a brief period in 1880, William Walch served in that capacity.

The city of Harper is Harper County's oldest city and is located in the north-central part of the county. It is 29 miles northwest of Caldwell. Harper’s growth was typical of many other towns in central and western Kansas during that period: a group of people, in this case Iowans, formed the Harper City Town Company at a meeting in Reno County, Kansas, on April 1, 1877. On April 2nd, the company struck out south and engaged the services of a county surveyor in Kingman County. On April 3rd, they ran a survey line from the government cornerstone two miles south of Kingman, south into Harper County. They camped at the future site of the city on April 5th. The following day they ran a line east to another governmental marker. Three surveys were made before the town was finally located on April 14th. On April 16th the building of the first house commenced. The first frame house was completed on April 19th. In May, the first blacksmith shop opened. On July 1st the first postmistress was commissioned. In July, the first grocery store opened, the first child was born, the first lawyer arrived, and the last wild buffalo was killed. In October, a Presbyterian minister preached the first sermon and a physician opened a practice.

"During 1878, the settlement of the town was so rapid as to preclude all specific mention of the settlers who stood not on the order of their coming, but went to work on the boom, which has known no cession for four years," according to William Cutler's History of the State of Kansas of 1883. However, Cutler did mention by name some of the people who arrive after 1878, including Rev. Walsh: “The Methodist church was organized in 1878 with a membership of seven, under the care of Rev. J. W. Anderson. Rev. Messrs. Walsh and Rose held the pulpit in 1880-81. Cutler also noted that earlier services were held in private homes and the schoolhouse. The church was built two years after William’s ministry there.

In Danville, which is located a little over 7 miles east of Harper, Cutler noted that the “Rev. Mr. Walsh” served as the Methodist society’s first pastor and that he “lived in Harper and came down to perform services.”

W. O. Graham, a local Harper historian writing in 1886, also mentioned William and correctly spelled his surname: "Rev. W. F. Walch arrived March 19, 1880, but did not remain the entire year, Rev. J. L. Rose filling out the last quarter and the following year.” The membership had grown to about 80 by 1886. Incidentally, the circuit riders throughout Kansas were so effective that by 1900 Methodists were the largest denomination, representing twenty-six percent of all churchgoers in Kansas.

. . .

This was indeed a brief ministry -five months at best. But, we shall learn in the next blog that the 22-year-old Rev. Walch had new obligations to meet and that he would turn to drugs to fulfill them.

The photo of William Walch is courtesy of Anne Haskin of Lansing, Michigan, a great granddaughter of W. F. Walch. (Click on photo to enlarge)

John W. Walch of the Wichita & Western Railway

John W. Walch, the seventh child of Stephen Walch and Elisabeth Charnock, was born on the 27th of December 1854 in Connecticut and grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. In about 1877, John, 23, married Ella, 22, a native New Yorker. In 1880 after most of his siblings had gone to Kansas, John remained and is believed to be the “John Walsh” working as a machinist in the carpet mill and living at 6 Jones Place in Yonkers. John and Ella had three children in New York: Olive May in about 1878, Elizabeth Etta in 1879 and Mamie E. in 1882. Olive is believed to have died in early childhood.

John and Ella moved to Kansas sometime between July 1882 and the birth of their next child Eleanor "Elia" B. Walch on August 1885. The 1888 City Directory of Wichita list John living at 1030 S. Lawrence St. and working as a machinist for the Wichita & Western Railway. His grandson, Jack A Walch, said he heard that many of the Walch men worked for the railways at one time or another. This was indeed the height of railroad building throughout Kansas. The Wichita & Western Railway connected Wichita to Winfield, a route that John no doubt knew well given that his brother John lived there and he eventually would move there too.

It is not known if John participated in the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889. If he was still working for the W&W, federal law would have made him ineligible, a fact that many railway workers overlooked. There were many railroad men among the Sooners, the name given to the Oklahomans who occupied land ‘sooner’ than others who followed the law and Land Rush rules. It's a curious thing that Oklahomans are proud of their Sooner status. Without a euphemism, would they be equally proud of their college football team if they were known as the Oklahoman Cheaters?

It was said that John was a member of the Masonic Lodge, as were the Walch ancestors and Walch men at that time. Their membership in the Masons was apropos given that modern Freemason springs from the medieval stonemason guilds. Some say the ‘free’ part of Freemason referrers to the masons who worked with even-grained limestone, called freestone. Of course, Masonic membership was later open to non-stonemasons; and the focus shifted from trade secrets to ancient wisdom. But the Walchs, still ingrained in the practice of stonemasonry, most likely felt a deeper sense of belonging to the membership.

John died on May 18, 1893 in a railway accident at the early age of 38. He left his wife, Ella, 37, and five children ranging from about 11 to 3 years of age: Elizabeth, Maime, Elia, Artie, and Earl. Ella remarried about a year later to John W. Gilliland, who had at least 4 children of his own. The combined family lived at 602 South Street in Winfield. Ella died on November 28, 1910, just 13 days before her 57th birthday.

Both John and Ella were buried in the Union Cemetery in Winfield. Their grave marker is a large ornate stone obelisk with a carved ball on top. Given that John and Ella were not likely financially well-off, it is quite possible that Brother James had a hand in arranging for the obelisk if not directly fashioning it himself.

Incidentally, the Wichita & Western Railway Co. was sold in 1898 on foreclosure to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway five years after John's death.

I was able to track down a few of John's descendents but have not been able to find a photograph of him yet. The photograph above is a historic picture of a Wichita train depot.

Lizzie & the Van Winkle Family

While her sister and brothers witnessed murder and mayhem in the streets of Caldwell Kansas, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Walch sat on the porch of her mother's house in Hastings-on-Hudson in the summer of 1880 sewing her only child Arthur a new pair of pants. This was not a difficult task because Arthur was only two years old and was not yet style conscious. At that time, Elizabeth and her husband Owen Van Winkle were living in her mother's home. Owen was working as a carpenter then. He was the son of John and Carolyn (Mosher) Van Winkle of Yonkers and, like his dad, once worked as a ship’s carpenter there. Owen was also a member of the Vesper Rowing Association of Yonkers and part of the championship crew of 1871-72.

Incidentally, many of the Walch children said they were from or born in Yonkers, but that appears to be simply a general reference. That was not unlike suburbanites today referring to the core metro city as ‘home’ when speaking to outsiders. Yonkers was the market town for Hastings-on-Hudson, which was only 3.5 miles away - easy walking distance in those days.

While we have our map out, note that the town of Irving is only 4 miles north. The town was named after Washington Irving, who wrote of the legends of Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane. And, just 5 miles beyond Irving is the town of Sleepy Hollow itself. In those days, the culture of Hastings and the rest of Westchester County was still influenced by the early Dutch settlers. Some of their better-known descendents, like the Roosevelts and the Vanderbilts built largest estates not far from Hastings-on-Hudson.

Unfortunately, we know little of Owen and Lizzie Van Winkle's life. They had two more children: Howard in 1882, and the daughter, Elizabeth Charnock, in 1892. After 1892 Owen and Lizzie have not been found in public record and it is presumed that they died. Arthur is also thought to have died in early childhood as his brother Howard never made mention of him to his children.
It is believed that Grandma Elizabeth (Charnock) Walch took over the care of her orphaned grandchildren. In any event, by 1910 Elizabeth (Charnock) Walch, 89, was being cared for by grandson Dr. Howard Van Winkle in Glenolden, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth likely died in Pennsylvania before Howard's move to Iowa.

In 2004 I was able to track down two of Howard's daughters: Marjorie (Van Winkle) Lindsay of Bailey’s Harbor, Wisconsin and her older half-sister Florence (Van Winkle) Ramsay of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Florence said that she had many old photos but did not know the names of the people. She never had the opportunity to review them with her mother who died when Florence was a young child. Hopefully the photos were not destroyed in the recent flood of Cedar Rapids. Before we ended our first phone conversation, Florence asked, “I have an unusual middle name. Do you know where it comes from?” “What is it?” I asked. She answered, "Charnock."

Because I have no pictures of Lizzie or the Van Winkles, I am including a photo of Elizabeth Charnock, Mrs. Stephen Walch. The photo is courtesy of Phyllis (Walch) Stork of San Francisco who is her great-granddaughter. My sister, Jean (DeFord) Conlin of Ann Arbor, has an original copy of this picture as well.

Margaret Walch & the Drew Family of Caldwell, Kansas -- Part II

Thomas and Margaret Drew were in their late 20s when they arrived in the small cattle town of Caldwell, Kansas in 1878, just as the town’s population was ready to explode. They most likely had in tow Maggie's two younger brothers, Ike, 14, and William, 20, to help in the building of their new home. If Jimmie Walch did not come directly with them, he would arrive shortly to help in the home building.

By 1880, the Drews had settled into their new home in the city of Caldwell. In that year their household was composed of Tom and Maggie, 30, their two young sons, Stephen, 5, and Alfred, 4; Maggie's brother, Ike, 23, a stonemason; and Frank Higgins, 23, a stonemason; and Bob Smith, 22, a laborer. Tom Drew was working as a building contractor at the time. In the spring of 1882 Maggie and Tom added their third and last child to the household: Maude Mildred Drew.

Tom was such a successful building contractor that he owned, and most likely built, a commercial building in downtown Caldwell as noted in The Caldwell Journal of October 11, 1883:

“The Directors of the Cherokee Strip Livestock Association have made arrangements with Mr. Drew to occupy the south half of the second floor of the new block which is the buildings south of the Journal office. The floor will be divided into two rooms, furnished with folding doors. The front room will be furnished as office, and a bookkeeper has already been employed to take charge of affairs. This is certainly one of the wisest things the Directors have done, and is a great improvement over the old order of affairs. The Journal complements them on the wisdom of their choice.”

The Cherokee Strip Livestock Association was an association of cattlemen who leased grazing rights In the Indian Territory. The largest cattle operations of the time were owned by corporations of English investors. One wonders if Tom's English background was beneficial in his dealing with these cattlemen. In any case, Tom Drew was successful enough to afford a visit to England, arriving back in New York aboard the ship Servia on the 23rd of February 1886.

Tom also opened a general store in Caldwell and was most likely instrumental in helping his two sons open up general stores in Oklahoma following the land rush. Like his Walch brother-in-laws, Tom also staked out an Oklahoma Land Rush claim in Kingfisher. Given Tom's multiple business ventures and construction background, the Drew home in Caldwell most likely was a stately affair. We know it was large enough to house a piano on which their daughter Maude gave lessons.

Margaret Walch, 68, died on the 29th of April 1918 while in Wichita, Kansas, and was buried in the Caldwell Cemetery. Following her death, her husband Tom returned to live in the town of his birth, Paington, England, where he died in 1934.

. . .

We'll take a closer look at the Drew family experiences in the Oklahoma Land Rush and follow the trail of descendents in later blogs.

. . .

The photo of the Thomas Drew family is courtesy of Jean (DeFord) Conlin of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Maggie's great grandniece.

Margaret Walch & the Drew Family of Caldwell, Kansas – Part I

Margaret Walch was born on January 27, 1850 in Liverpool, England. She came with her family to Connecticut at the age of one and moved with them after a few years to Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, where she grew up. At about the age of 23, Margaret, who was known as Maggie, met and married Thomas William Drew, a young mason who had recently immigrated from Paignton, Devon County, England. They had two children in New York: Stephen Howard Drew in 1874 and Alfred Henry Drew in 1876.

In about 1878 the Drews moved to Caldwell Kansas and are believed to be the first in the family to have moved there. Maggie's older brother Jimmie visited them that year. Her two younger brothers, William and Isaac, also stayed with the family at about this time. By 1880 Jimmie had moved east to Cowley County and William had moved west to Harper County. In that year, only Isaac, who was known as Ike, was living with the Drew family.

In order to get a feel for their life at that time let's turn to a brief description of Caldwell, provided by the Legends of America website, www.legendsofamerica.com/ks-kansascowtowns.html:

“Caldwell, Kansas, known as the Border Queen, saw wild days as a Kansas cowtown, as well as serving as a jumping off point to the Oklahoma Land Rush days.

Located just north of the Oklahoma border, the town was established in 1871 and named in honor of United States Senator Alexander T. Caldwell, of Leavenworth, Kansas. The first building was erected by Captain C. H. Stone, one of the founders of the town site, who built a log house which was used as a store and the first post office. Stone became the fledgling city’s first postmaster. Other buildings soon followed including a hotel, other businesses, and the Red Light Saloon, which thrived with both Indian and cowboy customers.

Situated along the Chisholm Trail, the town catered to the many cowboys who passed by with their large cattle herds on their way to Abilene and Wichita. However, it remained little more than a trading post up until 1879, when it had about 260 residents.

However, when the Santa Fe Railroad extended its line to Caldwell, Wichita investors soon took notice and formed a town company in 1879, selling lots for $125. The city was soon incorporated and quickly promoted its opportunity as a cattle shipping point. The town grew quickly and soon boasted some 1,500 people.

As the cowboys began to drive the cattle up the Chisholm Trail to Caldwell, the town took on all of the elements of a lawless frontier settlement. These many drovers gave the town its nickname, the "Border Queen."

As the town sprouted saloons, gambling dens, and brothels, the first town north of Indian Territory, provided a place where the cowboys could go wild after months on the dusty and treacherous trail. Gunfights, showdowns, general hell raising and hangings soon became commonplace.

During its reckless cowtown period between 1879 and 1885, Caldwell “boasted” a higher murder rate, and loss of more law enforcement officers than other more famous cowtowns. During this period, violence claimed the lives of 18 city marshals, leading a Wichita editor to write, "As we go to press hell is again in session in Caldwell."’

The 1880 photo of Caldwell above is from the of Legends of America website.