He Went Home Again

I didn't even know that Charles Maybaum, Jr. was in poor health. And now, having learned that from the age of 17 he suffered from "rheumatism" (probably arthritis), I am surprised that he was so active. As the years passed, his condition grew worse: by his early thirties, he needed a crutch and a cane just to move about, and toward the end he was "quite helpless."

All of this came out (to me) only after Charles died on October 11, 1919, in the house in Ainsworth where he had moved only three months earlier. He was 53 years old, having been born July 23, 1866, in Germany.

I do wonder if the grief and disruption in his life — the loss of his mother, who had cared for him all those years, the move from his old familiar farm home to a house in the village — hastened his death, but that is just my wild conjecture.

Charles was survived by his nine siblings, and since eight of them lived in northwest Indiana, they likely attended his funeral at the M.E. Church in Hobart. The possible exception was his sister Lena Barney, who now lived in Battle Creek, Michigan; but her branch of the family was represented by her 28-year-old son, Ray, who made the trip down to pay his respects.

Charles Jr. was laid to rest in Crown Hill Cemetery.


(Click on image to enlarge)

That is the west side of the stone whose east side memorializes his parents.

His brother-in-law, R.D. Sizelove, was appointed administrator of his estate.




Sources:
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 11 July 1919.
♦ "Card of Thanks." Hobart News 16 Oct. 1919.
♦ "Death of Charles Maybaum." Hobart Gazette 17 Oct. 1919.
♦ "Funeral of Charles Maybaum Held Monday Afternoon." Hobart News 16 Oct. 1919.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 16 Oct. 1919.
♦ "Notice of Administration." Hobart News 16 Oct. 1919.