Lydia Margaret Schnabel Clifford

Today's guest post is by Suzi Emig.


Lydia Margaret Schnabel Clifford was my paternal great-aunt and the second oldest of twelve children born to Jakob (Fred) Schnabel and Catherine Reichert Schnabel in the family home at the intersection of 61st and Colorado west of the creek on the south side of the road. A cousin told me that the family called her Liddy or Aunt Lid. She married relatively late in life, as you know to, Frank Clifford. They are both interred in Crown Hill Cemetery.

Her illness was rather well documented in the local press and she was hospitalized for months before her death. She suffered from pemphigus. I had to research the disease not having heard of it before. It is a rare autoimmune disease that affects the mucous membranes and the skin, causing blistering of the skin which in turn causes the skin to slough off and turn into open sores which can lead to infection. It wasn't until the 1960's and 1970's that an understanding of and the nature of this disease was published. There are three types of pemphigus which vary in severity. From the accounts of her illness in the obituaries, it appears that she may have had the least common and severest form of the disease. She was apparently diagnosed about 5 or 6 months prior to her demise. Since no autoimmune drugs, steroids, or antibiotics existed at that time, treatment consisted of comfort measures and pain relief. The prognosis was grave.

As far as I know Frank never remarried.

I have a copy of the Adams School picnic from 1895 with her and many of her siblings in it. She would have been about 18 at the time and may have been a teacher.



Lydia and Frank's wedding photo, from 1911:


(Click on image to enlarge)

Their marriage announcement states they will reside on the Heck farm. Evidently they rented. The Hecks and Schnabels were related by marriage.

I think the home northwest of Ainsworth was a house on the Schnabel property between Liverpool Road and Colorado St. and was owned by the family, so again they may have rented it. The plat map of Ross Twp. in 1908 shows the owner as Fred Schnabel, Lydia's older brother. The house is located just a little west of the old Elks on the south side of the road. I don't know the address. It is white with four pillars in the front on the porch that goes all the way across, a fenced pasture to the west and a little barn and garage on the east.


(Click on image to enlarge)
This image from Google street view shows the house on 61st Avenue that Lydia and Frank may have once occupied.

Evidently Frank had another house built in "Hobart Park" where Lydia died. From what I have figured out the house sat on the north side of 3rd St. in Hobart back from the road. This is about 50 yards from my house. My Dad said that the family used to graze cattle in this area and did own several plots here. So again, the land was most likely owned by the Schnabels.