Determination and Perseverance

Keith Thomas & Dorothy Lillian Koeller Roesch wedding picture July 18, 1934. 

 

Keith was a well-known farmer and had an outstanding purebred Holstein herd.  He was the first president of the Lancaster, Wisconsin Chapter of the Future Farmers of America.  At the age of 35, he was stricken with polio and spent some time in an iron lung; however, he continued to farm in spite of any disabilities.  

When he got polio the doctors said he would never walk again.  But he said he would walk and he worked until he could. At one time he even walked with a cane. Nothing was ever to hard for him to overcome. 

Besides hunting, milking cows and putting in crops he had a large garden he tended. He loved to go in the garden and sit on the ground and weed it while eating radish and onions.  He was known for his determination and ability to overcome all obstacles.

An avid sportsman, he loved to hunt and trap and was a lifetime member of the National Trappers Association. 

My Irish Green Eyes

I was always told that I was English, Irish, Scottish, and German.  It was easy to find the English side of my family because it was everywhere I looked.  Most of my tree is English and therefore I am a direct descendant of nine Pilgrims that came over on the Mayflower.   The German, maternal side of my family I have documented so completely I have written a book, "Forever Laced".

The Scottish in me comes from my great grandfather, Emond Sterling, again on my maternal side.  I have followed this line all the way back to Scotland and the Stirling Castle of Keir that was situated high on a mountain overlooking water and the land.  Go back far enough and the name was once Strivelyn.  The origin comes from Ster meaning Mountain and lin meaning water.

My paternal Irish line has been a difficult line to find. I didn't even know where to begin to find out who they were.  Did they live in Fall River, New Bedford, or elsewhere? Were they born in Ireland or here in America?  Perhaps I need to go back even further in history.  I even suspected a connection with Lizzie Borden, oh my.  Whew, couldn't connect any dots there thank goodness.  I have all the black clouds and weeds I want thank you very much.

I finally discovered without a shadow of doubt the parents of my 2nd great grandmother, Ellen Sullivan, known as Nellie.  Her parents were Dennis  Sullivan, b March 14 1816 Castle-Town, Cork County, Ireland and Hannah O'Brien b 1820 Dublin, Ireland  according to their death certificates that I obtained at the Lakeville, MA town hall. The death record did not name Dennis' parents, but Hannah's tells us her parents were Timothy O'Brien and Hannah Sullivan. Their daughter, Ellen, known as Nellie,  actually named her son Dennis after her father.  

I still don't know where in Ireland they were from, or when they came to America. Do you know how many Dennis Sullivan's there are with a wife by the name of Hannah?  How am I ever going to go further.  It is driving me mad I tell you.

Dearest Billy

Florence and Jack from stories I was told were very much in love. He called her Billy. They eloped and were living in the Back Bay of Boston, MA. 

Florence’s parents, Elsie and Emond Sterling, were not happy about their daughter’s union. Why, we no not. One story tell us that Florence was ill and Jack wasn't taking proper care of her. But I suspect maybe it was because Jack was a Russian Jew.  So they went to Boston to take Florence and away from Jack.  As they drove off, Florence called out, "I'll be back Jack. 

He tried to contact Florence to no avail. Jack wrote many beautiful love letters to her that her parents intervened. She didn’t see these until many years later. 

 Billy dear, now that you've gone I realize how much I really love you.  Dear girl, I'll never forgive myself for letting you go.  Dearest, this room doesn't seem the same.  I used to think it was so cozy and cheerful but now it seems so cold and bleak and dreary.  Our kitchenette room is too full of memories of you.  I see you at the gas range, I imagine I see you by the dresser curling your hair.  The only thing that consoles me is the realization that you will soon return to me.  And when you do, God knows how I'll stand it until then, you can gamble your last dollar that you won't leave me again.

Dearest, I want you to rest and enjoy yourself while you are there.  I won't ask if you had a safe journey as God couldn't be so cruel as to make it otherwise.

Well, dearest one, will close now hoping that you miss me as I do you.  A wealth of love and a fortune of kisses from

Your lonely husband, Jack

One Year Later:

Judgement by W. H. Eldredge Clerk of said State of New York, County of Cattaraugus. The Annulment papers dated January 4th 1924 before the Honorable Charles H. Brown, reads as follows: Now on motion of John H. Ryan, counsel for the plaintiff, it is ordered, an judged and decreed, that the marriage between the said plaintiff, Florence Greenblatt, and the defendant, Joseph Greenblatt, also known as Jack Greene, be and the same hereby is dissolved and annulled, by reason of the consent of the said plaintiff Florence Greenblatt having been obtained by fraud on the part of the defendant, and the parties are and each of them is freed from the obligations thereof. This Judgment is interlocutory but shall and become the final judgment here, granting the relief decreed three months after the filing and entry of this decision and judgment as of course, unless the court shall in the meantime for sufficient cause otherwise order. 

Jack never appeared at court I was told. I can’t help but wonder if Jack really was served papers to appear? ) W. H. Eldredge, clerk of said county, and of the courts thereof, do hereby certify that I have compared the foregoing copy of Judgment with the original filed and entered in this office Jan 7 1924 and now remaining herein, and that said copy is a true transcript therefrom and of the whole of said original. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed the seal of said county, at Little Valley, this 7th days of January 1923. (W. H. Eldredge was a relative of Florence’s mother. After all, Eldredge was her mother’s maiden name. The true story of why this happened we will never know.

Note:

We have lost the art of communicating with romantic and flowery words, whether it be through a love letter, or an obituary.  Technology has made it so much more convenient to pick up a phone, type a text message or send off a quick email.  Sad don't you think that we now fin it difficult to express our true emotions on paper? These words, our ancestors knew.

Empty Saddle

25 Jul 2011  Telegraph Herald Website
LANCASTER, Wis. -- Robert C. "Bob" Roesch, 92, of Lancaster, died Saturday, July 23, 2011, at the Lancaster Care Center.

Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 26, at Martin Funeral Home, Lancaster, with Pastor Mark Hoehne officiating. Burial will be in Hillside Cemetery, Lancaster. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. today and after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.

He was born on July 14, 1919, in Potosi Township, son of Arthur and Mary (McLaughlin) Roesch. Bob attended Elmdale rural school and served as its board clerk until its closing.

He farmed his entire life on the Roesch family farm in Waterloo Township. Bob was united in marriage to Lennice M. Davies on May 26, 1942, at the Little Brown Church, Nashua, Iowa.

He was a member of the West Grant Saddle Club and took great pride in his horses and driving team. He was a proud member of the NFO, and a salesman for Madison Silo and Starline Farm Equipment.

Bob especially enjoyed and looked forward to all family gatherings.

Surviving are his loving wife of 69 years, Lennice, of Lancaster; children, Judy (Richard Taylor) Kleinfeldt, of Madison, and Jack (Linda) Roesch, Janis (Chuck) Yoose, Gary (Gale) Roesch, Dennis (Jane) Roesch and Alan Roesch, all of Lancaster; 15 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Marcella (Joe) Case.

School Days

Christina Jehle, my 3rd great aunt, came to America in 1844 with her husband Johannes Kreitler.  They settled in Newark, New Jersey where Johannes, became known as John, owner of "Kreitler's Twine and Rope Manufacturing Company.  I know that out of 12 children, at least one of his sons worked at his father's firm.Many German families were settling in Newark.  What they found attractive were the 14 German-English schools in the area for their children to attend. 

The families may have had varying religious or political views, but they all had strong convictions about preserving the German language for their children.  Even the less fortunate class were willing to make any sacrifice to grant their offspring an education in their mother tongue.  During this period, over 3700 children were receiving German speaking instruction.

German-English Schools, Newark, New Jersey

1943 Banana River Naval Air Station

 


1943, Banana River Naval Air Station, Cocoa Beach, Florida

My dad was first stationed here.  He is standing front row center,

just to the left of the Beachmaster

Base now known as Patrick Airforce Base



 


Air view of the base sitting between
Cocoa Beach and the Banana River

 

Anyway you spell It Wilbore, Wilbor, Wilbur

Samuel Wilbore signed the Portsmouth Compact

Samuel Wilbore and wife Ann, came to America arriving in Salem, Massachusetts in mid-July 1629. He was a merchant, had a ship, probably sold cloth and lumber and was in the wool business.

He and 6 men under him guarded the gate at Roxbury. He sold his home on what is now Washington St. to Samuel Sherman. In 1634, he and William Blackstene bought "Boston Commons" and gave it to the town. Made "Freeman" 4 March 1633/4 and with John Porter and Philly Sherman bought Aquidneck Island, (Rhode Island).

Samuel was banished from Boston 30 August 1637, and disarmed 20 November 1637 and went to Portsmouth, R.I. because he was a follower of my 10th great grandmother, Anne Hutchinson.  And, because of that he was exiled from the state of Massachusetts along with Anne.  Anne was a Puritan preacher of a dissident church discussion group.

Samuel Wildbore was one of the founders of the iron industry at Taunton, Mass., building with his associates a furnace at what is now Raynham, the first built in New England. He became wealthy for his day, but his standing in the community could not preserve him from religious persecutions, and
for embracing the "dangerous doctrines" of Cotton and Wheelwright he was banished from Massachusetts with seventeen others.

Although he owned a house in Boston, and one in Taunton, he abandoned both, and on the advice of Roger Williams he, with seventeen fellow exiles, purchased from the Indians the Island of Aquidneck, he moving there with his family in 1638, these eighteen persons forming a colony under a solemn compact, March 7, 1638. Rhode Island had become a haven for persecuted religious sects.

These people, called Antinomians, believed that the moral laws as taught by the Church of England were of no value and that the only law that should be followed was that of the Gospel. Quakers, who eventually merged with the Antinomians, established a meeting house on Aquidneck in 1657.
Samuel became was of the signers of Portsmouth Compact.  You can see his name on the plaque.

Samuel Wilbore (1597 - 1656)

My 9th great grandfather

Shadrach Wilbore (1631 - 1697)

Son of Samuel

Shadrach Wilbore Wilbur (1672 - 1749)

Son of Shadrach

Meshach Wilbur (1702 - 1793)

Son of Shadrach

Josiah Wilbor (1741 - 1823)

Son of Meshach

Peter Wilbur (1789 - 1850)

Son of Josiah

Joseph B Wilbur (1832 - 1895)

Son of Peter

Joseph P Wilbur (1858 - 1886) 

Son of Joseph B

Mary Catherine Wilbur (1881 - 1960)

Daughter of Joseph P

Mary Ann Pierce (1898 - 1982)

Daughter of Mary Catherine

Robert Franklin Smith (1923 - 2008)

Son of Mary Ann

Kathryn Marie Smith

Daughter of Robert

Easter

1955
Mother Elsie Loise Roesch Smith in the back.
children left to right daughter Kathryn, family friend, Virginia Luther, in front daughter Robin,
on her right is daughter Sharon