Sacred Sorrow

Among the papers my great-great Grandfather Martin M. Hester left behind is a large collection of family letters, and many from his sister Eliza. During the Civil War, news from the battle front came painfully slow. Eliza's three sons all served in the Civil War and her letters during that time conveyed the news she had heard from them, or the war news passed around town.

Eliza had lost her first-born son in 1834 when he was only 15 months old. Then her first husband died the day before her last child was born, March 5, 1839. With her remaining sons away serving in the war, she and her second husband Elisha struggled to keep the farm going with fewer hands to help. Between the letters from her sons, they could only wait and pray for their safe return.

In a letter dated October 9, 1863 Eliza conveys the sad news that her son George had fallen as a sacrifice in the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia on September 20, 1863. He had served in the 44th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.

Berea Oct 9th, 1863

Dear Brother and Friends:
Knowing your anxiety to hear from the boys I will drop you a few lines. I should have written yesterday but we did not go to the office till after noon.
We have sad news from the battle. Poor George has fallen a sacrifice for his country, I feel sad to hear such news. Had hoped they might be spared to return home in safety, but I feel now that our ranks are broken. The Lord gives grace, I still trust Him, a number have fallen from this place, one the only son, and his Mother a widow. He said tell my mother I die trusting in the Savior. He was a member of Elisha’s class. Oh how many sad hearts and homes this wicked war is making. I feel sorry for the boys, they will miss George so much, there is not many boys that thought more of each other than they did....

The three flags by Eliza's headstone testify to her sons' service. Thankfully her remaining sons John and James survived the war. But in the end, Eliza outlived four sons and two husbands, and still was strong in her faith.

.
".....if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. ....Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back."
1 Corinthians 15: 19 and 23 NLT

January 31, 1870

The diaries of my great-great grandfather Martin M. Hester (see previous post) primarily record the daily routine of his work on the homestead (1869-1871). But in January of 1870 a series of extraordinary events took place. In the following excerpts he is making reference to his father, Martin Hester. Let the story unfold before you as you read...

Friday, January 28 -We all went to [church] meeting in A.M Good meeting, most in the house came forward. Father spoke with much feeling "That God had preserved his life for more than 82 years and crowned all his life with blessing and that all his children and many of his grandchildren were Christians. He felt like Simeon of old, "Now Lord let thy servant depart in peace." [referencing Luke 2: 25-32]. Eve-We all went to church. More than 60 forward as Christians and 9 as seekers. Powerful meeting.

Saturday, January 29 -We all went to meeting. More than 60 forward as Christians and 10 as seekers. Father was among the first to go forward and spoke with much feeling. Toward eve Father had a stroke..... fell from North door of wagon house and found him about ½ past 3 o’clock. Carried him in. Got Dr. Hard to see him. Right side is useless, cannot speak. Mary and I took care of him. Dr. stayed all night.

Sunday, January 30 -Mary and I took care of Father. Dr. stayed all day but nothing could be done for Father. He cannot swallow nor speak. Seemed to know us some. Finlay went to Norwich. William went to Monroeville for Samuel and to Norwalk to telegraph for Eliza. John, Samuel and Matthias came. Father is failing.

Monday, January 31 - Took care of Father all day. At 6 o’clock in the Eve he died in great peace. Had not spoken for 48 hours but had left a clear testimony in the church of his evidence of the love of God in his heart. (Children all here. Eliza had come about noon. Father seemed to know her. It was about the last he noticed anyone.) R. Barker Truxell and Danforth laid out corpse after which we had prayers. H. Adams led the devotions. John, Samuel and I followed.

Tuesday, February 1 -Matthias and I went to Norwalk for coffin (in his sleigh). Made arrangements for funeral, for the digging of the grave &c.

Wednesday, February 2 - Funeral met at the house. A great many came at 10 o’clock. Wm.M. Conant made prayer (after a hymn was sung.) Went to grave yard and buried corpse [across the road from their home]. We went to the church. Very full. W.M.C. preached a very good and appropriate sermon. Text - Numbers 23c 10vs. D.M. Pratt made closing prayer.

Note the text - Numbers 23: 10b : "Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs!" This was later inscribed on Martin's headstone.

What a treasure our family has in this personal account of the last days of my great-great-great grandfather Martin Hester, his strong profession of faith and his "departing in peace," on this day, 140 years ago.

My great-great-great grandparents-

Martin Hester (September 6, 1787 - January 31, 1870) and

Mary (Stough) Hester (February 15, 1789 - June 15, 1863):

Agriculture circa 1869

I usually spend about 95% of my work day (the part in which I earn income) in a seated position, either in front of a computer or in meetings. So tonight I'm spending more time in front of a computer to tell the story of a man who spent probably 95% of his work day on his feet.

Martin M. Hester, my great great grandfather, left behind at least a few years of diaries primarily recording the tasks completed each day on the homestead and the business transactions completed, as well as notes about who stopped by to visit and church services attended. He wrote entries for every day. Here are some excerpts [with some additional explanatory notes in brackets]. Mary is his wife, William, Finlay and Catherine are his children. Frank is hired help that lived with them. I am descended from Finlay.

Jan 4 - William, Frank and I sawed at the big tree. Twice through over 5 feet through. Catherine came to see the tree. [this would be with a hand saw which has to be at least twice as long as the diameter of the tree to remove the sawdust].
Jan 7 - Frank and I split and sawed at big tree, think it will make staves and heading sets [used to construct barrels]. Filed saw, it works much better, sawed the log off twice.
Jan 15 - Sawed black walnut long at R.S. Danforth's woods. PM - wove some wire [he was making screens to sell for use in threshing machines]. Got ready to butcher hogs. Butchered 4 hogs, weights 136, 144, 294, 300. [they also had constructed an ice house for cold storage, cutting ice blocks from the river and storing tightly packed together in a small building insulated with saw dust].
Feb 4 - Hauled six logs from the west woods to the mill. One soft maple, 5 oak, 2 - 10 feet long, 2 12 feet, 1 -14 feet
Feb 25- Dipped 47 1/2 doz. candles, 27 dips, 65 lbs tallow, took all day.
Feb 26- Finlay and I worked at forge, made 32 drag teeth and 20 meet hooks... William and I worked at cultivator, Finlay helped.
March 1 - Went to Center of Bronson to see Township trustee. They agreed to make an appropriation of $30 to cover the bridge if I put in iron bars. [citizens were called upon to maintain roads and bridges].
March 25 - Tapped 72 trees [to collect sap for maple syrup]. Good deal of snow on the ground.
April 5 - We gathered 5 or 6 barrels sap and boiled it. Worked some in the shop.
April 30 - Went to mill, finished sawing pickets. Went to blacksmith shop. Hero [draft horse]
had gravel in his foot, quite lame.
May 2 Sunday - I am Sunday School Superintendent. 20 scholars
May 5 - Let Mr Nurm have 3 hives of bees on shares to return the old stock and half the increase and half the honey. Weight of hives, 25, 28, 28. Marked corn rows in No. 2 [field number]. Have 4 young calves to feed. One cow had twin calves.
June 1 - Frank ditched water off potatoes. I made boxes for melons. Cut stone for cellar steps.
June 2- Took up the cellar steps, Frank and I commenced to lay up steps and wall to cellar way.
June 19 - Sheared 24 sheep, Frank sheared 12, William 8, Finlay 4. Cleaned the cellar, fixed the hinge on the lower door. Put hinges on the outside door. Sacked wool for Eastman, 111 fleece [from 111 sheep] in 2 sacks.
July 20 - Rainy morning, heavy rain, ground very wet. Cannot go in the field with [horse] team. Cut wheat by hand. Rain in the afternoon, had to quit.

What he doesn't mention in his diary is the daily round of chores, in particular caring for all the animals- cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, turkeys. If that weren't enough he also made/sold wagon spokes, staves and headings for barrels, lumber, sidewalk planks and screens for grain threshers. Farm products sold at market included hay, cattle, hogs, dressed chickens, smoked hams, bees, honey, butter, eggs, potatoes, apples and apple cider/vinegar, applebutter, as well as peaches, cherries and maple syrup.

In addition to that he had responsibilities at the church, helping to keep the building in repair and arriving early to start a fire in the stove. I'm certain his wife Mary was just as industrious with her household chores and feeding hungry workers. Toward the end of his life Martin compiled the history and genealogy of the Hester/Stough families and had it published.

His attention to the family history, diaries and other record keeping has enriched our lives immensely. Herein is a lesson that one can never be too busy to trace the moments of our days on paper.

Schneiter story

I was eating a sauerkraut and pork dinner with my Mom and Dad a few weeks ago and Dad recalled that his Schneiter grandparents (Lena and Adolph) always had a crock of sauerkraut in the basement and served it at just about every meal and often had a nice chunk of meat to go with it. He also noted that city folk kept their sauerkraut outside and had their bathroom inside, while country folk had their sauerkraut inside and their bathroom outside. Go figure.

Thanks to my Great Aunt Hazel Schneiter, we can piece together some of the story of my Great Grandparents Adolph and and Lena (her husband Albert's parents). She took the time to record her recollections in writing.

Adolph and Lena were teenagers when they came across the ocean from Switzerland on a paddle boat but somehow they didn't meet each other until they arrived in America. They settled in Axtel, a little four-corners just south of Vermillion, Ohio. They had eight children, two of which passed away in infancy. Of the remaining six was my Dad's mother, Mary Schneiter Phillips and also Anna (Beckloff), Lena (Beers), Marguerite (Spangler) and finally the two youngest, Albert and John.

When my grandmother was just a girl the family moved from their farm in Axtel to another farm in Hartland Township in my home county. They loaded all their possessions in a wagon pulled by horses and they drove the cattle along with them on foot. Sometime later they moved from Hartland Township to a farm on Exchange Road outside my hometown of New London. Initially their house was on the west side of the road but apparently that didn't suit Adolph so he had it moved across the road with a steam engine.

Several years later they moved around the corner to another farm on Prospect Road where they remained the rest of their years. They also owned a 46 acre farm across the road, but never lived there. That house stood empty for twenty years until 1940 when Hazel and Albert began to restore in and moved in January, 1941.

The story is told that Adolph was often made his way to or from town on foot and invariably someone would stop to pick him up. Everyone knew him. The story also is told that when he got weary of family gatherings he would take off for home on foot across the fields.

Today the land that Adolph and Lena farmed is owned by Loren Kamm, a local mega-farmer that acquired many properties and is part of the group my Dad is in that gets together for coffee at McD's every morning. Albert and Hazel's farm is now occupied by his son Paul.






My Great Grandparents

Lena Roth Schneiter 10/10/1874--5/18/1941
Adolph Schneiter 9/19/1868 -- 2/15/1947










Lena Roth with her parents







Adolph Schneiter standing (left) with brother and parents

There is more

Just in the last few weeks three people that I have known have passed on to the next life. The sorrow of those left behind is particularly difficult at this time of year when so much of the activity around us is in pursuit of merriment and cheer.
Yet it is precisely the message of Christmas that brings consolation and hope to the grieving. The arrival of the God-child in our broken world was foretold centuries ago by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 9:2,6) and again affirmed in the opening pages of the New Testament:

"The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined." Matthew 4: 16 NLT

And don’t we all have moments when the shadows of life seem to overtake us, shadows of loss, and failure, of pain and regret, dashed hopes, broken hearts. ...And deep within those moments, there’s a longing for light to dispel the shadows. Yes, even today there is light and hope…

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. John 1: 5 NLT

Yes and there is more. The wonder and mystery of God choosing to dwell among us, fallen that we are, cannot be explained with logic but only in the language of His infinite and incomprehensible love.

When the Father’s Wisdom wanted to communicate His love
He spoke it in one final perfect Word.
He spoke the Incarnation and then so was born the Son. His final word was Jesus, He needed no other one.
Spoke flesh and blood so He could bleed and make a way Divine.
And so was born the baby who would die to make it mine.
(Excerpt from Final Word by Michael Card)

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing… (Romans 15:13 NASB).

A mournful path

Today the Hester family traversed once more the mournful path to lay a loved one to rest in the Hester Cemetery near Norwalk Ohio. With the passing of Mary Jane Hester my Uncle Bob has lost another wife to the grave and his children a second mother. His first wife Dorothea passed when the children, my cousins Sandy, John and Jim were young children. When Bob and Mary Jane were married, our family was enlarged with her two daughters Amy and Lisa from a previous marriage and my cousins gained a mother.

From the funeral home on East Main Street the procession made its way down Old State Road, past Woodlawn Cemetery where my Great-Great Grandfather Loren Webb is buried, past the reservoir, past the farm where my Grandfather Webb Hester raised sheep, and then cut across past the hospital to Ridge Road.

Like a ribbon furling in the breeze, the procession flowed over the hills and vales of that winding road through fertile farmland. I could not help but think of the generations of my family who had come before us, that had settled here and lived from the land.

The cemetery is surrounded by fields once farmed by my great great grandfather Martin M. Hester and his father Martin, and across the road is the homestead they constructed in 1835 still occupied by descendants. The diaries, letters and artifacts they left behind tell a rich story of labor and love and faith. Many of them came to their final resting place here at this sacred place, a place of deep-rooted history.

I stood with my arm around Sandy watching the pall bearers fulfill their grievous task. And like the cold wintry wind blowing across the hill, a wave of sorrow overtook her at the loss of yet another mother.

Yet the faith of so many of my ancestors is that which I hold in my heart today. "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?'" (John 11: 25-26 NASB).

Dad and me

We go back a long way, Dad and me. I remember on Sunday afternoons when Dad would stretch out on the couch, he would invite me to get in the "back seat" behind him. That felt comfy and secure.

In the summer we'd pack up our car at about 4 a.m. and head off for some new place to visit. Places like Serpent Indian Mound, My Old Kentucky Home, the Smokey Mountains, the Wisconsin Dells and Niagara Falls. He wanted to make sure we got the opportunity to see as much as we could of this wonderful USA.

Sunday afternoons were often times for going to Grandma and Grandpa's going for a ride, and visiting the farm market to get a big tin of cherries or maybe a peck or two of apples or peaches.

Our house went through a lot f remoideling over the years. It turned out to be one of the nicest ones around. I always appreciated the big yard we had to play in, the swing that hung from that big ol' apple tree, and comping out in the tent in the back yard every summer.

While Mom was teaching me how to bake, Dad was enjoying the things we baked. He'd always say there wasn't much sense in making a single batch of cookies so we'd double the recipe most of the time.

One summer my 4-H project involved designing a work area in my bedroom. While I was away at camp, Dad made the plan into reality by installing builtin-in drawers, counter top and bookshelves. He and I got an "A" on the project.

Dad has a good sense of humor. After I left home for college he typed funny letters. One of them read, "This will be a letter of reading between the lines cause we don't have any paper without lines." That was back in the days of manual typewriters.

I don't know how I first got interested in photography, but maybe it was because Dad often carried around a camera with him and would document all our vacation travels. As soon as I was old enough I was shooting pictures too. Later on in life I became a professional photographer. He also has kept a lot of the stories I wrote in school and now I'm a professional writer.

I still like to stir up goodies in the kitchen. Better go get a cake in the oven.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Love, Deb