It wasn't influenza that killed the second eldest son of John and Louise Gruel. It was a cold, according to the News, that developed into pneumonia. But John Jr. had been in poor health for several years, obliged to spend his winters in California, and the pneumonia finished him quickly. He died at the Gruel home east of Ainsworth on January 2, 1919, a few weeks short of his 35th birthday.
Aside from his parents, John Jr. was survived by five brothers and five sisters. Most of the siblings were at home or nearby, but two were in army camps — Edward at Camp Custer and Anna at Camp Lee — and Emma was in France.
Whether Edward and Anna were able to come home for their brother's funeral is not recorded. Neither newspaper had much to say about the funeral, for the ceremony, held in the Gruel home and presided over by the Rev. E.R. Schuelke, was "strictly private."
John Jr. was laid to rest in the family mausoleum.
Sources:
♦ "John Gruel Jr. Passes Away at the Gruel Homestead." Hobart News 2 Jan. 1919.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 9 Jan. 1919.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 10 Jan. 1919.
Monday, January 9, 2012
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3 comments:
I'm assuming if you found the mausoleum you would have told us. $3,000--that's such a large sum!
The Gruel mausoleum mystery was intriguing...I checked Find-A-Grave just out of curiosity and found that most of these Gruels are interred at Graceland in Valpo and have headstones...If you go to this website and look up a John Gruel, 1855-1955, in Crown Hill in Hobart there is an explanation of what happened on his page.
Mystery solved! Thanks!
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