Gernenzathon

Since certain people like hearing about their ancestors, I thought I'd just post the few random items I've found about members of the Gernenz family that I haven't already posted.

From the Hobart Gazette of April 10, 1903:

An Old Citizen Passes Away.

After years of feebleness Mrs. Caroline Gernenz died on Monday, April 6th, 1903, at the home of her son Fred south of Ainsworth at the age of nearly ninety years. She was born Aug. 10th, 1813, in Germany where her husband died about 42 years ago, and came to America with Mrs. John Springman, her daughter, and husband in the spring of 1874. After a residence of several months in Chicago she came to Hobart, Ind., with her son Fred and family, and after a residence here of 7 years they moved upon the farm south of Ainsworth.

For the past eleven years she has been very feeble, most of the time being confined to her bed. She was the mother of six children, two having died in infancy in the old country. The children living are Fred, Ernst and John Gernenz, and Mrs. Sophia springman, besides a large number of grandchildren and great-grand children.

The funeral services were conducted yesterday [April 9, 1903] at 1 p.m. at the German Lutheran church in Hobart by the pastor, Rev. Schuelke, and the interment occurred at the Hobart cemetery.

The following items are all from Hobart Gazette's "Ainsworth Pick-Ups" columns:

From February 17, 1905: "Mr. Mayer's team broke loose Friday night, during the entertainment [a box social at the Ainsworth school] and were found next morning unhurt two miles south in Gernenz's yard, eating from a straw stack." (There you have it — Gernenz straw: worth traveling two miles for.)

Starting with this item from June 24, 1910, the paper seems to have adopted an alternate spelling of the last name: "Chas. Gernantz who sports a fine white team and surrey, with his family visited Hobart friends, Sunday."

From September 30, 1910: "Chas. Gernantz recently had eighteen geese killed at night by dogs." Roaming dogs were a problem in those days. Occasionally they killed sheep; this is the first time I've heard of geese being killed. In Hobart they usually just bit people.

And lastly, from October 28, 1910: "Last Saturday Chas. and F. Gernantz, John Benson, August Maybaum, Wm. Smith and Frank and Antone Peterson met the county commissioners at the Peterson road. They are reported dissatisfied with the work of the Inspector." I don't know exactly what Inspector this refers to, but it may have been Calvin C. Shearer, Sr., a "Gravel Road Inspector" mentioned in the previous week's column.


That's all I've got for now.