Life
Sketch of Gertrude Anna Kurtz
Grandmother and Matriarch of five generation
Grandmother and Matriarch of five generation
Adapted
& edited from information compiled by Nancy Krebs Pendley for Gertrude’s
100th birthday with some notes from the book “Twentieth Century
Pioneers” by Garnet Naslund.
Gertrude Anna Young was born in London, Ohio on July 18th, 1881. Her father, Francis Gideon Young, known as “Frank”, was the son of Thomas Gideon Young and Rowena French who were pioneer settlers in the Ohio Valley.
Gertrude’s mother, Anna Clara Harvey, was the daughter of Jonathan Harvey whose parents were Jonathan Harvey and Sara Arnett. Anna Clara’s mother was Ann C. Bell, the daughter of William Bell and Sinah Wilson.
Gertrude Anna Young was born in London, Ohio on July 18th, 1881. Her father, Francis Gideon Young, known as “Frank”, was the son of Thomas Gideon Young and Rowena French who were pioneer settlers in the Ohio Valley.
Gertrude’s mother, Anna Clara Harvey, was the daughter of Jonathan Harvey whose parents were Jonathan Harvey and Sara Arnett. Anna Clara’s mother was Ann C. Bell, the daughter of William Bell and Sinah Wilson.
Gertrude’s
parents had ten children: Thomas Arthur, Charles Francis, Harvey Jay, Walter
George, Gertrude Anna (our Grandma), Ella Augusta, John Wesley, Maude Clara,
Mary Ethel and Ray Lewis.
Gertrude with her some of her siblings:
(Standing) Ray, Harvey, Walter, & John Wesley,
(Sitting) Gertrude, Charlie & Mary Young
Of
her early years Grandma remembered what a hardworking man her father was, and
what a good mother she had. In the
evenings, the children of the neighborhood would often gather at their
home. They would play hide-and-seek, red
rover, tag, etc. The school children in
their family walked about a mile to school and carried all their lunches in one
big bucket. On the first snow of winter,
Grandma and her brother Charlie would have a contest to see which one of them
could run the furthest into the nearby woods barefooted. She must have been an adventurous young girl.
.
Grandma’s mother, Anna Clara, was struck by a falling door one day, which hit her in the chest, causing deep bruising. Later she developed cancer of the breast. Whether or not the injury from the door had anything to do with the cancer, we don’t really know. But at the time that is what the family believed. She was sick quite a while. Her diseased arm swelled so large that she had to sit with it propped on the arm of a chair. She died from the cancer when she was only 39, shortly after Grandma had turned eleven years old.
Grandma’s brother, Harvey, took over the task of doing the cooking and keeping house for the family at that time. Grandma claimed he did a better job than a lot of women would. Later, however, their father advertised for a housekeeper to look after his large brood. The job was filled by a widow named Helen Frye Berner. Helen had five children of her own, who also joined the family. Within two years, Helen Berner (called Nellie) and Gertrude’s father, Frank Young, were married. Later they had a son and daughter of their own – Francis Gillman and Viola Florence.
Grandma deeply missed her mother after Anna Clara’s death. It was hard for her to feel comfortable with her new step-mother. With the house being very crowded after the marriage of her father, Gertrude went to live with the family of a cousin named Nellie Cook, where Gertrude helped with the housework and the children.
.
Grandma’s mother, Anna Clara, was struck by a falling door one day, which hit her in the chest, causing deep bruising. Later she developed cancer of the breast. Whether or not the injury from the door had anything to do with the cancer, we don’t really know. But at the time that is what the family believed. She was sick quite a while. Her diseased arm swelled so large that she had to sit with it propped on the arm of a chair. She died from the cancer when she was only 39, shortly after Grandma had turned eleven years old.
Grandma’s brother, Harvey, took over the task of doing the cooking and keeping house for the family at that time. Grandma claimed he did a better job than a lot of women would. Later, however, their father advertised for a housekeeper to look after his large brood. The job was filled by a widow named Helen Frye Berner. Helen had five children of her own, who also joined the family. Within two years, Helen Berner (called Nellie) and Gertrude’s father, Frank Young, were married. Later they had a son and daughter of their own – Francis Gillman and Viola Florence.
Grandma deeply missed her mother after Anna Clara’s death. It was hard for her to feel comfortable with her new step-mother. With the house being very crowded after the marriage of her father, Gertrude went to live with the family of a cousin named Nellie Cook, where Gertrude helped with the housework and the children.
1910
Family Gathering at Ohio home of George & Nellie Cook
Gertrude is in black dress holding baby Roy in front of 2nd pillar from the left, Emery standing behind her. Florence and Walter standing in front of them. Thomas Gideon Young, (Gertrude’s father) is man standing in front of far left pillar.(For names of others see FamilySearch.org)
Gertrude is in black dress holding baby Roy in front of 2nd pillar from the left, Emery standing behind her. Florence and Walter standing in front of them. Thomas Gideon Young, (Gertrude’s father) is man standing in front of far left pillar.(For names of others see FamilySearch.org)
Later
Gertrude moved into the home of Nellie’s parents, (Gertrude’s uncle and aunt)
William and Augusta George, near Barberton, Ohio. She remembered her uncle’s custom of wanting
pie every morning for breakfast, as it was part of her job to rise early and do
the baking.
William Amandous George (1826-1904) & Augusta Melissa Young (1840-1902)
It was during her stay with this family that she met the neighbors, Jacob and Catherine Kurtz and their children. She later became the wife of their youngest son, Emery Jacob. Following her pattern, her sister Ella married Emery’s brother, John Kurtz.
Emery Kurtz and Gertrude Young
Emery’s
occupation was as a kiln setter for a sewer pipe factory. He had to enter the hot kilns at the
beginning and end of each forming process.
It was hot, hard work, but he became known as a first class kiln
setter. His boss, Charlie Shaw, was so
happy with Emery’s work that he asked Emery to move his family to California to
help run a pipe factory there.
Gertrude and Emery’s oldest daughter, Helen Margaret, had died shortly before her eighth birthday from injuries sustained in a fall from a swing. She was buried in the Kurtz family plot in the spring of 1910. Now, a year later, the family faced a long move west. They met these and other challenges with quiet determination.
Six year old son, Walter, accompanied his father and Mr. Shaw (Emery’s boss). As soon as arrangements could be made, Gertrude made the trip on the train with four year old Florence and two year old Roy. Being in the late stages of pregnancy, this would have been a challenging trip for Gertrude. Just a few weeks after their arrival, their daughter Grace would be born at Corona, California.
Emery’s work took the family to several different places over the years. Unhappy with the damp weather in California, Emery decided to pursue a different job at a new brick factory that had opened up in Alhambra, Arizona. The family travelled together to Phoenix by train in March of 1912. This was just a few weeks after Arizona had been admitted as the 48th state in the Union. Gertrude and the children stayed in the Commercial Hotel in Phoenix while Emery went on to Alhambra to secure the job and find a place for his family to live.
When they first settled in Alhambra, the Kurtz family lived in a small farmhouse with no indoor plumbing, no electricity, and no extras. But they made that little house feel like home as best they could. Grandma worked as a cook for a boarding house. When the factory where Emery was working closed, the family moved to the Vestal place. During the time they lived there, daughter Gertrude was born. Later, while they were running the Northcutt Ranch, another daughter, Alpha arrived.
After the Northcutt ranch was sold to Mr. Green, the Kurtz family continued to live there for a time until their move to Florence, Arizona where they worked at a dairy. Grandma and Grandpa each hand milked 25 cows every day. Their son, Walter, also helped with the milking and delivered the milk route each day before school. Walter would take three and a half gallons of milk to the prison kitchen each morning. His younger brother, Roy, also helped out. According to Garnet’s book, Twentieth Century Pioneers, “Twice a week Roy would saddle up the riding horse, his dad would drape a pair of one gallon milk cans across the saddle and Roy would deliver them directly to the warden’s house” (p28). However, those trips did not always end smoothly. “On one unforgettable trip home from the warden’s house, Roy spotted a skunk heading into the bushes. He decided to take a stick and chase it out. The skunk objected and sprayed the inquisitive boy full in the face. The girls did not welcome Roy kindly that night. As for his mother, she had to figure out how to “de-skunk” the bad smelling child” (p. 28).
After leaving the Stewart’s Dairy, the Kurtz family moved to Fowler and worked at another dairy there. About this time a small pox epidemic struck the area. Both parents and five of the six children contracted the disease. Only Walter escaped its affects. Fortunately, they all survived and had no lasting problems from their illness.
The next move took them to the Norton Ranch at Cashion, where Emery was foreman over the field hands who worked the acres and acres of cotton and other crops. A move or two later found them back at Alhambra at the Sargent place, where they were working when their daughter, Florence (my grandmother), was married on Christmas Day in 1925 to Louis B. Krebs. About a year later Emery found out about a homestead which was available in the Big Park area of Northern Arizona (where the Village of Oak Creek is located today). His son-in-law, Louis, took him to file a claim. Louis and Emery made plans that they would each build a cabin on the property. The Kurtz family would move into Emery’s cabin and Louis and Florence would have their place nearby to use when they came for summer visits. My mother and her older brother, Louis Jr., had many memories of going to visit their grandparents at Big Park during those early years.
Emery built his cabin from used lumber which he had purchased. It was a frame building with a storage room to the side. It had a hard packed red dirt floor which Grandma sprinkled with water and swept every day. Grandpa did dry farming, which turned out prize winning crops when entered at the county fair. That was no easy task in the Arizona desert. All of their water was hauled in barrels by team and wagon. Emery also ran a string of cattle and went on round-ups on top of Schnebly Hill with other ranchers. While they raised most of what they ate, they needed cash money for some things. For this, the family also hired out to pick fruit and vegetables for other farmers. Many summers they made the trek to Colorado to pick lettuce, and at one point they hired on in Oak Creek to work in the orchards of the Jones family. This was how their daughter Grace became acquainted with the man she would marry, Sam Claire Jones.
Many of the old-time families lived in this area, but were still distant neighbors because of the vastness of the valley. During Granddad’s last years he and Grandma had moved into the Krebs cabin and it was there that he died on November 10, 1938. After that, Gertrude moved to various places in the Red Rock, Sedona and Indian Gardens area, before making her home with her daughter, Florence, and son-in-law Louis Krebs. She would live in their home with them for the last fourteen years of her life, first in Flagstaff and then later in Cottonwood, where they moved after Louis’s stroke.
Gertrude experienced many losses over the course of her life – first losing her mother when she was just a girl. Next she lost her first born child, Helen Margaret. She lost her husband when she was just 57 years old. She would remain a widow for 45 years. Despite these and other hardships, she endured and remained a strong influence in her family and among the extended relations for generations to come.
As a young girl she had churned her own butter and made lye soap. As an adult she watched news reports of men walking on the moon. She truly must have had a remarkable life. I wish she had spoken of it more.
Gertrude Kurtz remained keen and alert throughout her long life, although her energy did fade in later years. She once complained to her doctor when she was about 100 years old “I just don’t have any pep. Can’t you do something about that?” He merely sighed and shook his head, saying he had no magic cure for aging. Gertrude died at home on 29 July 1983, shortly after her 102nd birthday.
Gertrude and Emery’s oldest daughter, Helen Margaret, had died shortly before her eighth birthday from injuries sustained in a fall from a swing. She was buried in the Kurtz family plot in the spring of 1910. Now, a year later, the family faced a long move west. They met these and other challenges with quiet determination.
Six year old son, Walter, accompanied his father and Mr. Shaw (Emery’s boss). As soon as arrangements could be made, Gertrude made the trip on the train with four year old Florence and two year old Roy. Being in the late stages of pregnancy, this would have been a challenging trip for Gertrude. Just a few weeks after their arrival, their daughter Grace would be born at Corona, California.
Emery’s work took the family to several different places over the years. Unhappy with the damp weather in California, Emery decided to pursue a different job at a new brick factory that had opened up in Alhambra, Arizona. The family travelled together to Phoenix by train in March of 1912. This was just a few weeks after Arizona had been admitted as the 48th state in the Union. Gertrude and the children stayed in the Commercial Hotel in Phoenix while Emery went on to Alhambra to secure the job and find a place for his family to live.
When they first settled in Alhambra, the Kurtz family lived in a small farmhouse with no indoor plumbing, no electricity, and no extras. But they made that little house feel like home as best they could. Grandma worked as a cook for a boarding house. When the factory where Emery was working closed, the family moved to the Vestal place. During the time they lived there, daughter Gertrude was born. Later, while they were running the Northcutt Ranch, another daughter, Alpha arrived.
After the Northcutt ranch was sold to Mr. Green, the Kurtz family continued to live there for a time until their move to Florence, Arizona where they worked at a dairy. Grandma and Grandpa each hand milked 25 cows every day. Their son, Walter, also helped with the milking and delivered the milk route each day before school. Walter would take three and a half gallons of milk to the prison kitchen each morning. His younger brother, Roy, also helped out. According to Garnet’s book, Twentieth Century Pioneers, “Twice a week Roy would saddle up the riding horse, his dad would drape a pair of one gallon milk cans across the saddle and Roy would deliver them directly to the warden’s house” (p28). However, those trips did not always end smoothly. “On one unforgettable trip home from the warden’s house, Roy spotted a skunk heading into the bushes. He decided to take a stick and chase it out. The skunk objected and sprayed the inquisitive boy full in the face. The girls did not welcome Roy kindly that night. As for his mother, she had to figure out how to “de-skunk” the bad smelling child” (p. 28).
After leaving the Stewart’s Dairy, the Kurtz family moved to Fowler and worked at another dairy there. About this time a small pox epidemic struck the area. Both parents and five of the six children contracted the disease. Only Walter escaped its affects. Fortunately, they all survived and had no lasting problems from their illness.
The next move took them to the Norton Ranch at Cashion, where Emery was foreman over the field hands who worked the acres and acres of cotton and other crops. A move or two later found them back at Alhambra at the Sargent place, where they were working when their daughter, Florence (my grandmother), was married on Christmas Day in 1925 to Louis B. Krebs. About a year later Emery found out about a homestead which was available in the Big Park area of Northern Arizona (where the Village of Oak Creek is located today). His son-in-law, Louis, took him to file a claim. Louis and Emery made plans that they would each build a cabin on the property. The Kurtz family would move into Emery’s cabin and Louis and Florence would have their place nearby to use when they came for summer visits. My mother and her older brother, Louis Jr., had many memories of going to visit their grandparents at Big Park during those early years.
Emery built his cabin from used lumber which he had purchased. It was a frame building with a storage room to the side. It had a hard packed red dirt floor which Grandma sprinkled with water and swept every day. Grandpa did dry farming, which turned out prize winning crops when entered at the county fair. That was no easy task in the Arizona desert. All of their water was hauled in barrels by team and wagon. Emery also ran a string of cattle and went on round-ups on top of Schnebly Hill with other ranchers. While they raised most of what they ate, they needed cash money for some things. For this, the family also hired out to pick fruit and vegetables for other farmers. Many summers they made the trek to Colorado to pick lettuce, and at one point they hired on in Oak Creek to work in the orchards of the Jones family. This was how their daughter Grace became acquainted with the man she would marry, Sam Claire Jones.
Many of the old-time families lived in this area, but were still distant neighbors because of the vastness of the valley. During Granddad’s last years he and Grandma had moved into the Krebs cabin and it was there that he died on November 10, 1938. After that, Gertrude moved to various places in the Red Rock, Sedona and Indian Gardens area, before making her home with her daughter, Florence, and son-in-law Louis Krebs. She would live in their home with them for the last fourteen years of her life, first in Flagstaff and then later in Cottonwood, where they moved after Louis’s stroke.
Gertrude experienced many losses over the course of her life – first losing her mother when she was just a girl. Next she lost her first born child, Helen Margaret. She lost her husband when she was just 57 years old. She would remain a widow for 45 years. Despite these and other hardships, she endured and remained a strong influence in her family and among the extended relations for generations to come.
As a young girl she had churned her own butter and made lye soap. As an adult she watched news reports of men walking on the moon. She truly must have had a remarkable life. I wish she had spoken of it more.
Gertrude Kurtz remained keen and alert throughout her long life, although her energy did fade in later years. She once complained to her doctor when she was about 100 years old “I just don’t have any pep. Can’t you do something about that?” He merely sighed and shook his head, saying he had no magic cure for aging. Gertrude died at home on 29 July 1983, shortly after her 102nd birthday.
