1. JAMES WARD was born Abt. 1845 in County Donegal, Ireland, and died January 11, 1893 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He married ANNA WARD. She was born May 12, 1838 in County Clare, Ireland.

Notes for JAMES WARD:
JAMES WARD was born ca. 1845 in County Donegal, Ireland. Family legend says he was called up for the Civil War but not drafted because he had babies to support. He may have had a brother who died in Michigan.

He seems to have landed in Baltimore, Maryland, where he met and married Anna WARD of County Clare, Ireland. She was born 12 May 1838.

The 1860 Census for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, lists James as a day laborer with no land but $30 personal property, 24, born in Ireland. Anne is 25, born Ireland, and Ellen is 1, born PA. By 1870, Ann is 33 (she seems to have knocked two years off her life here; ah, vanity!) and keeps house, her parents are foreign, and she isn't a citizen. James is 36, a day laborer, parents foreign, can't read or write but is a citizen, so he must have been naturalized before this census. (Naturalization papers from Pittsburgh or Baltimore might be able to give us his birthplace.) Ellen, now 11, is the only one at school. Michael, Mary, and Sarah, all born in PA, are at home.

James Ward, a day laborer, is listed as living on Maria Street near Magee as far back as 1877-78. In 1877 they were on "Marci and Magee" Street.

Family legend says James was an iron mill worker who had a stroke and couldn't work when he fainted in the hot Pittsburgh mill and someone threw cold water on him, whereupon his 12-to-14-year-old son went to work in the glass factory to support the family.

The Pittsburgh Gazette for January 13, 1893, has:
DIED--Ward, on Wednesday Janury 11, 1893, at 5:15 p.m. James Ward, aged 54 years. Funeral from his late residence, No. 1 Maria St. at 8:30 o'clock today. Services at St. Paul's Cathedral at 9 o'clock. Friends of the family are respectfully invited to attend.

James was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in Pittsburgh on 13 January 1893, and removed to Calvary Cemetery on 3 February 1894. The 1893 Pittsburgh Directory lists Michael J. Ward and Annie Ward, widow of Jas. Ward, as living at 1 Maria. They are not there in the 1894 Director. Frank McTighe, brass finisher, is also listed at 1 Maria in 1893.

In the 1900 Pittsburgh Census, Annie WARD, 59, born June 1841 in Ireland, lived at a rented home at 626 Thompson Avenue, ward 31. She immigrated in 1855 and has been in America 45 years, the mother of seven children, six still living. With her are Margaret SCHERER, 24, born March 1876 PA, one child dead; and John SCHERER, 26, born September 1883 to German father and Pennsylvanian mother, married 3 years, driver, unemployed two months that year.

Anna Ward was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Lot #176, Section D, on 13 July 1903. Michael, her son, may have been working for MacBeth-Evans glass factory at this time. The Pittsburgh Gazette for June 10, 1903, has:
DIED--On Tuesday June 9, 1903 at 10:35 p.m. Ann Ward, wife of John Ward, in her 62nd year. Funeral from the family residence No. 3407 Carson St. south side on Friday at 2 p.m. Friends and family are respectfully invited to attend.

Children of JAMES WARD and ANNA WARD are:
2.....i.....ELLEN WARD, b. March 1860, Pennsylvania.
3.....ii.....MICHAEL JAMES WARD, b. April 01, 1863, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; d. April 16, 1937.
4.....iii.....MARY WARD, b. May 05, 1866.
5.....iv.....SARAH WARD, b. August 17, 1868, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; d. Abt. 1960.
6.....v.....JOANNA WARD, b. December 29, 1871, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; d. February 18, 1927, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California.
7.....vi.....MARGARET WARD, b. March 1876, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; d. January 27, 1917.

2. ELLEN WARD (JAMES) was born March 1860 in Pennsylvania. She married MICHAEL MCCLAFFERTY. He was born in County Donegal, Ireland abt 1855 and d. 13 Apr 1909.

Notes for ELLEN WARD:
Michael resided at 2233 Webster Ave. in the 1889 and 1897 directories, 15 Glosser Ave. in 1898, 11 Glosser in 1900. His business was done at home. The 1900 Census says he immigrated in 1873 and was not a citizen. Ellen was listed as mother of 8, five still living. Michael died 13 April 1909 and was buried in Calvary Cemetery. Ellen died at St. Joseph's Hospital on 28 March 1916 of peritonitis at 6:15 a.m. She was listed as housekeeper and widow, 55 years 11 months 29 days old, living at 1415 Vickroy St., born 29 November 1860.

Children of ELLEN WARD and MICHAEL MCCLAFFERTY are:
.....i.....MARTHA MCCLAFFERTY, b. 7 September 1883, Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; died there 22 Apr 1912. She was a candypacker in 1900. She married Bernard A. Aner 8 Aug 1905 in Allegheny County. Their marriage certificate says he was born in Pittsburgh on January 26, 1884. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania County Marriages, 1852-1973; County: Allegheny; Year Range: 1905; Roll Number: 549855. She died of shock following wood alcohol poisoning “Probably taken my mistake” per death certificate. Informant: Ellen McClafferty. Burial: Calvary Cemetery. Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Pennsylvania, USA; Certificate Number Range: 042421-046290

.....ii.....JAMES MCCLAFFERTY, b. September 1884, Pennsylvania. James was a rolling mill laborer who couldn't read or write in 1900.

.....iii.....MARY MCCLAFFERTY, b. November 1886, Pennsylvania.
.....iv.....ANNIE MCCLAFFERTY, b. May 1889, Pennsylvania.
8.....v.....WILLIAM THOMAS MCCLAFFERTY, b. 2 December 1896 Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA; d. there 26 Apr 1970, married VIOLA MILDRED JAQUAY in Brooke County, West Virginia on 23 Jun 1919. He was a World War I and II veteran.

3. MICHAEL JAMES WARD (JAMES) was born April 01, 1863 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and died April 16, 1937. He married BRIDGET TERESA ROONEY July 09, 1895 in Elwood, Madison County, Indiana, daughter of WILLIAM ROONEY and BRIDGET GINTY. She was born August 07, 1869, and died January 29, 1951. Both are buried in St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery, Elwood, Madison, Indiana, USA.

Notes for MICHAEL JAMES WARD:
ELWOOD DAILY PRESS (Vol. 3, No. 893, Tuesday July 9 1898, p. 8, two cents):

.....Mike was a union man who went where the union sent him, small but nice. Like most of the Wards, he had brown hair and fair skin.

.....He went to Elwood, Madison Co., Indiana, with Macbeth-Evans, and was there married to Bridget Teresa ROONEY (see the Rooney genealogy on this website for ancestry), known as "Tess," in St. Joseph's Church, by Rev. B. Biegel, on 9 July 1895. Accounts of the wedding include:

Mr. and Mrs. Mike Ward were tendered a reception on Tuesday evening at the clubrooms by their relatives and friends. It was one of the most enjoyable affairs of the kind ever held in Elwood. Elegant refreshments were served, after which dancing was indulged in until a late hour.

Elwood, Ind. July 12--On Tuesday morning at 9 o'clock at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, there occurred the marriage of Mr. Michael Ward and Miss Theresa Rooney the accomplished daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Rooney. Mr. Ward is one of our best young men. They will take a trip through the East, after which they will return to this city and make their future home.

GRAND RECEPTION
Given Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ward Upon Their Return Home From the East
.....An account of the marriage of Michael Ward and Miss Teresa Rooney a few days ago was given in the PRESS. After the nuptial knot was tied the newly married couple enjoyed a grand honeymoon trip through the East. They returned yesterday and last night a magnificant reception was given in their honor in the rooms of the Willkie block formerly occupied by the Elwood club. Refreshments were served in an "up to date" manner after which the merry guests tripped the light fantastic until early morn. It is said that a crowd of 100 was in attendence and all express a very enjoyable time.

ELWOOD DAILY PRESS (Vol. 3, No. 893, Tuesday July 9 1898, p. 8, two cents):

WARD-ROONEY NUPTIALS
At the St. Joseph's Church, Michael Ward and Miss Theresa Rooney were united in marriage at 8 o'clock this forenoon, Rev. Father Biegle officiating. The contracting parties are both very well known to this city and have perfected arrangements to reside here. Mr. Ward is one of the leading employees at Macbeth's.

A GRAND RECEPTION
.....Mr. and Mrs. Mike Ward, who have returned from their bridal tour through the east, were accorded a grand reception last night by their relatives and friends.
.....The affair was held in the old club rooms in the Willkie block and was one of the most enjoyable of its kind ever given in Elwood.
.....Mrs. Thomas Flannigan was the one who planned the affair and right well was it executed.
.....Mike was the victim of the evening and was made to ride the horse in great shape, and do other funny deeds for the amusement of his friends.
.....Elegant refreshments were served, after which the floor was cleared and the 120 guests present spent the rest of the evening dancing.
.....Those present from abroad were May Gillespie and Eliza Dunn, of Kokomo, and Anna and Julia Carmody, of Anderson.

Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Elwood Ward 3, Madison, Indiana; Roll: T624_365; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 0123; Image: 295; FHL Number: 1374378.
Michael J Ward ...40...PA, PA, PA...blower, bottle house...
Teresa Ward ...37...IN, Ireland, Ireland
Anna M Ward ...14...IN, PA, IN
William E Ward...11...IN, PA, IN
Margaret L Ward...8...IN, PA, IN
James M Ward ...6...IN, PA, IN
Thomas J Ward ...3...OH, PA, IN

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Elwood Ward 3, Madison, Indiana; Roll: T625_449; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 140; Image: 564. January 6, 1920
Michael J Ward ...45...PA, Ireland, Ireland...glassworker
Teresa Ward ...44...IN, Ireland, Ireland...
Anna M Ward...23...IN, PA, IN...stenographer, canning factory
Edward W Ward...20...IN, PA, IN...canning factory
Margert Ward...16...IN, PA, IN...
James M Ward...16...IN, PA, IN...
Thomas B Ward...13...IN, PA, IN...
Mary M Ward...4 4/12...IN, PA, IN...

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Elwood, Madison, Indiana; Roll: 606; Page: 16B; Enumeration District: 52; Image: 33.0.
Mickel J Ward ...60...PA, Ireland, Ireland...blower, plate glass...$3000
Tresa Ward ...52...IN, IN, IN
Edward W Ward...28...IN, PA, IN...salesman, furniture store
Thomas B Ward...22...IN, PA, IN...nailer, box factory
Mary T Ward ...16...IN, PA, IN...
Margarete Ward...27...IN, PA, IN...book keeper, fruit store

.....The Elwood Call-Leader (Vol. XXXXVII, No. 91, 3 cents a copy) for Friday, April 16, 1937, reported:

MICHAEL WARD EXPIRES TODAY
Retired Glass Worker Dies at Home At
1223 South G Street This Morning .....Michael Joseph Ward, 74, died at his home at 1223 South G street at 10:45 o'clock this morning, of the infirmities of age and complications.
.....The son of James and Anna Ward, he was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 1, 1863. On July 9, 1893, he was united in marriage to Teresa Rooney.
.....Mr. Ward was a retired glass worker. He was a member of St. Joseph's Church and was affiliated with the Holy Name Society, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Order of Foresters, and the Flint Glass Workers Union.
.....Surviving besides the widow are five children, Mrs. Joseph Williams, Elwood; Mary, at home; Edward, Marion; Margaret, Anderson; and Thomas, Gary. There are six grandchildren.
.....The body was removed to the York Memorial Chapel to be prepared for burial.
.....Funeral services will be conducted at the St. Joseph's Church Monday at 9 o'clock with the pastor, Father Nicholas C. Huemmer, in charge. Burial will be made in the Catholic cemetery.

Notes for BRIDGET TERESA ROONEY:
.....Tess was very handsome and aristocratic in bearing. She was fond of jewelry; had long, lovely hands; and used to lie about her age, even though her twin's tombstone indicated a date some years earlier!
.....She raised her orphaned grand-daughters, Rita and Mary Jane Ward, but was harsh and often threw Rita out for weeks at a time. She told both little girls that she had more respect for her son Ed's little finger than for their entire bodies. She wanted them for the room and board, although their aunts and uncles begged for the chance to adopt them. Rita would move in with one when she was evicted; one of her cousins told me she was a teenager before she realized Rita wasn't just another one of her siblings!

Obituary from the Elwood Call-Leader
Elwood, Madison Co., IN
29 Jan 1951, page 8
TERESA WARD, 77,
DIES EARLY TODAY;
FUNERAL WEDNESDAY
.....Mrs. Teresa Ward, 77, 1223 South G street, died at her home at 1:30 o'clock this morning of complications following several years illness. Born Aug. 7, 1873 in Remington, she was the daughter of William and Bridget Ginty Rooney. She was married July 9, 1895 to Michael J. Ward. He is deceased. Mrs. Ward was a member of St. Joseph's church and of the Rosary Socety. Mrs. Ward had lived in Elwood for 65 years.
..... Survivors include three daughters, Mrs J.L. Williams of Elwood, Miss Mary Ward, at home, and Miss Margaret Ward of Anderson; two sons, Edward Ward, at home, and Thomas Ward of Gary; a sister, Miss Jane Rooney, and a brother, Joseph Rooney, both of Elwood. She has eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
..... The body is at the York Memorial Home where friends may call after six o'clock tonight. Funeral services will be held Wednesday morning at 9 o'clock at St. Joseph's church. Rev. T.J. Hammes, pastor, will officiate. Burial will be made in the Elwood City cemetery.

Children of MICHAEL WARD and BRIDGET ROONEY are:
9.....i.....ANNA MARIE WARD, b. July 06, 1896, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; d. December 09, 1992, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana.
.....ii.....WILLIAM EDWARD WARD, b. June 29, 1899, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; d. May 05, 1983, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; m. DOROTHY SHORT.

Notes for WILLIAM EDWARD WARD:
He served time in the U.S. Army during WWII and worked at Delco Remy's. One summer he worked from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the blacksmith shop of Tom Shanklin on 16th St., for 25 cents a day keeping flies off horses with a horse tail fastened to a broomhandle. He was paid every evening. When school began again, the nuns asked how he spent that summer, and he said, "Shooing flies." When everyone laughed, Ed got mad and wouldn't come back to school for a couple of weeks! Ed was six feet tall, as were his brothers, though he admitted Tom was "a nickel's worth taller." He claimed Tom got very upset when his hair turned grey--early greying is a Ward trademark. Ed used to chuckle about the time the barber thought Tom was much older than he. In 1925, Ed went to California; it took him 28 days and covered 28 states, he says. Ed allegedly used to steal catsup from Tom Ward's boarder, Hilda Redmond, who handmade it and stored it in Tom's basement. Ed was confirmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma when he and Papa were working there. Tom used to say of Ed, "His belly is his God." He used to cook while his sister Mary mowed the lawn! Ed married Dorothy Short, who was a nurse for 38 years. She was Clinical Coordinator of the Surgical Wing of Mercy Hospital in Elwood when she retired, and the family still turned to her for medical advice. She and Ed traveled to Ireland together.

.....iii.....MARGARET T. WARD, b. March 03, 1902, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; d. August 1992, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana. Margaret was for many years head book-keeper for Leeson's Department Store there. She was single.

Obituary from the Elwood Call-Leader, Elwood, Madison Co., IN, 24 Aug 1992, page 2
MARGARET T. WARD
.....Margaret T. Ward,90, 1333 S. H St., died Sunday at Parkview Convalescent Center after an extended illness.
….. She was born March 3, 1902, in Elwood, and was the daughter of Michael and Theresa (Rooney) Ward.
…..She retired from R.L. Leeson Department Store and was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, the Rosary Society, and the National Council of Catholic Women.
….. Survivors include two sisters, Anna Williams of Elwood and Sister Mary Antonia of Pittsburgh,, Penn,; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by three brothers, James Ward, Ed Ward and Thomas Ward.
…..Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the St. Joseph Catholic Church with Father Kenneth C. Raczek officiating. Burial will follow in the St. Joseph Cemetery. Friends may call from 3 to 8 p.m. today at the Copher & Fesler Funeral Home.

vi.....MARY WARD, b. August, 1916; died 22 May 2011 Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Mary was a Roman Catholic nun.

Published in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on May 24, 2011
WARD SISTER MARY ANTONIA, SC
Sister Mary Antonia Ward, SC, age 95, died at Caritas Christi, the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in Greensburg, on May 21, 2011. A native of Elwood, Indiana, Sister Mary Antonia entered the congregation of the Sisters of Charity from Saint Joseph Parish, Elwood, Indiana on July 1, 1952. She was preceded in death by parents Michael J. and Theresa (Rooney) Ward, three brothers, James M., Thomas J., Edward W. and two sisters, Margaret Ward and Mrs. Anna (J.L.) Williams and she is survived by nieces and nephews. Sister Mary Antonia taught in schools of the Altoona- Johnstown, Greensburg, Pittsburgh and Tucson dioceses and in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Later, Sister Mary Antonia began home visiting the frail and elderly parishioners of Holy Innocents Parish in Sheraden until 1994, when failing health forced her to retire. Always gracious and serene, Sister Mary Antonia, along with Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, believed "The affliction of this life is but a moment, while the glory in the life to come will be eternal." Friends received Monday and Tuesday, 1:00-7:00 p.m. in Caritas Christi, 129 DePaul Center Road Greensburg, PA. Funeral Mass Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. Chapel of the Assumption, Caritas Christi. Interment Sisters' Cemetery, Seton Hill Greensburg, PA. Memorial contributions may be made to the Sisters of Charity, De Paul Center, 144 DePaul Center Road, Greensburg, PA 15601. For more information visit the website, www.scsh.org.
Send condolences at post-gazette.com/gb

Notes for MARY WARD:
baptized 1 July 1877 at Sacred Heart Church in Pittsburgh, PA. She married Bernard Haas, a boxcutter, 9 June 1886 at St. Paul's Church. He was born January 1857 to German parents (Michael Haas and Mary Keller; the Haas family was from Baden-Baden) in Pennsylvania, and lived for many years in a mortgaged home at 529 North St. Clair in the 19th ward of Pittsburgh. Bernard had a big black handlebar mustache and came from Germany. Their daughters worked as milliners.
.....Mayme knew some real estate. They bought a small farm for recreation but struck oil, at least one gusher, there. Mrs. Fiore, a friend of Mayme's sister Margaret, remembers her as "a mean-looking woman." Once while she was visiting, she heard Margaret Ward Scherer moan, "Oh, my God, here she comes again." It was Mayme, whose visits always left Maggie in tears; no one knows what she said to Maggie then. After her sister's death, Mayme took the boys on weekends but fed them gruel and heavy doses of molasses and "crude oil"! The Scherer boys remembered her as something out of a Dickens novel. Bernard said, "She was hard on us boys." In 1923, the directory lists the Haas family at 216 Amber St. Bernard Scherer believed that after striking oil, they moved to Block St. and "used to drive around in a big car to show off in the neighborhood." The money didn't last long; "They burned it up as fast as they earned it."
.....While living at 1172 Jancey St., Bernard Haas died of heart failure 6 October 1937; Mary was buried beside him at Mt. Carmel Cemetery 6 March 1941. Most burials there are from Help of Christians Church.
.....During the flu epidemic of World War I, young Anna Ward of Elwood left Elwood at 2:00, arriving at Pittsburgh 6 p.m. the next day; there was a long wait for wartime trains. She found one daughter in her coffin and the other upstairs dying. Sadie WARD Gretz said there was too much death and sadness in that house and Anna must go home, so Henry Woistman reserved a Pullman berth for her and sent her home. It was the first time Anna saw a "motorized" (non-horse-drawn) funeral.

Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 19, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T623_1361; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 219.
Bernard Haas...43...Jan 1857...PA, Germany, Germany...married 14 years...paper box
Martha Haas...33...May 1867...PA, Ireland, Ireland...3 children, 3 living
Anna L Haas...13...Apr 1887...PA, PA, PA
Sarah Eliza Haas...10...Oct 1889...PA, PA, PA
Marie S Haas...7...Feb 1893...PA, PA, PA

Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 11, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1302; Page: 16A; Enumeration District: 0422; Image: 1156; FHL Number: 1375315.
Bernard Hass...52...OH, PA, PA...married 23 years...laborer, day jobs
Mary Hass...42...OH, OH, OH
Sara Hass...19...OH, OH, OH...clerk, drygoods
Marie Hass...17...OH, OH, OH...apprentice milliner
Bernard Hass...9...OH, OH, OH

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 11, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1518; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 487; Image: 741.
Bernard Haas...62...PA, Hesse, Hesse...laborer, bakery company
Mary A Haas...51...PA, Ireland, Ireland
Bernard Haas...19...PA, PA, PA...son...laborer, bakery company
Stewart Harper...33...OH, Hesse, Hesse...lodger...salesman, piano company
Cora Harper...31...OH, OH, Hesse
Sarah Friday...50...PA, Ireland, Ireland...lodger

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1974; Page: 20A; Enumeration District: 159; Image: 197.0.
Bernard Haas...72...PA, Germany, Germany...married at 28
Mary A Haas...60...PA, North Ireland, North Ireland...married at 17
Bernard Haas...29...PA, PA, PA...single...laborer, auto company

More About MARY WARD: Burial: March 06, 1941, Mt. Carmel Cemetery
More About BERNARD HAAS: Burial: Mt. Carmel Cemetery

Children of MARY WARD and BERNARD HAAS are:
12.....i.....ANNA LEONA HAAS, b. April 29,1887; d. 16 June 1938.
.....ii.....SARAH ELIZABETH HAAS, b. 28 October 1889, died of influenza in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA on October 28, 1918. Bernard W. Haas was the informant on her death certificate, which gave these dates and described her as a single white milliner. She died of pneumonia following influenza. It said she would be buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery on October 31, 1918. Her parents were given as Bernard Haas and Mary Ward, both of Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Pennsylvania, USA; Certificate Number Range: 104501-107750
.....iii.....MARIA SUZANNE HAAS, b. 18 February 1893, died of influenza in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA on October 31, 1918.
13.....iv.....BERNARD WARD HAAS, b. December 08, 1900.

5. SARAH WARD (JAMES) was born August 17, 1868 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and died Abt. 1960. She married JOHN M. GRETZ March 01, 1891 in St. Paul's Church, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He was born April 05, 1868 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Notes for SARAH WARD:
Sadie married John M. Gretz, glassblower, 1 March 1891 at St. Paul's Church in Pittsburgh. John was born 5 April 1868 in Pittsburgh to German parents, and lived in the 26th Ward there. John Gretz died age 41 and Sadie died in 1960; both were buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Marion, Grant Co., IN. In the 1900 Census they were in a rented house on East 38th St. Centre Twp. Grant Co.

More About SARAH WARD: Burial: I.O.O.F. Cemetery, Marion, Grant County, Indiana.

Children of SARAH WARD and JOHN GRETZ are:
.....i.....ANNA GRETZ.
.....ii.....WILLIAM GRETZ, b. January 1895, Indiana.
14.....iii.....PAUL A. GRETZ, b. March 1897; d. January 28, 1982.
.....iv.....LEO E. GRETZ, b. May 1900, Indiana; d. August 1978; m. LAVONNE SHAFFTER.
.....v.....FRANCIS GRETZ, b. Abt. 1902. Francis moved to Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana.

.....vi.....MARY GRETZ, b. Abt. 1904; m. ? WEST. Divorced, moved to Bedford, IN.

6. JOANNA WARD (JAMES) was born December 29, 1871 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and died February 18, 1927 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California. She married FRANK MCTIGHE April 06, 1893 in St. Paul's Church, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He was born March 04, 1872 in Allegheny City, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and died November 26, 1940 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California.

Notes for JOANNA WARD:
She married Frank McTighe, brass finisher, 6 April 1893 at St. Paul's. He was born in Allegheny City, PA 4 March 1872 and lived at 198 Rebecca at Allegheny City when they took out the marriage license. She was born 29 December 1871 in Pittsburg and lived in the 6th ward in Pittsburgh. Children included John A. McTigue, Francie, and Margaret. In the 1893 city director, Frank is listed at 1 Maria Street with his mother-in-law; after James's death, Anna Ward moved in with Frank and Johanna. In 1894 the couple are listed at 7 Linton, but Frank isn't listed again until 1917, 1933, and 1923, all three years at 7023 Hamilton Ave. Johanna was a big woman, about six feet tall.

The family apparently moved to Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California around 1926, when they appear in a directory as living at 776 E. 40th St. Frank S. McTighe, widower, son of John McTighe, died 26 November 1940 in Los Angeles, California, after 4 years and 9 months in the Little Sisters of the Poor hospital. His birthdate was given as 5 March 1873 Pittsburgh, PA. He had lived in California for 16 years. He died of chronic myocarditis and arteriosclerosis and was buried 28 November 1940 in Calvary Cemetery. Johanna's death certificate said she died 18 February 1927 Los Angeles, California, of bacteremia and acute myocarditis, age 52 years 1 month 19 days; her husband of 776 E. 49th St. signed the certificate. She was buried at Calvary Cemetery.

Note the different birth date for Samual (Frank S.?) McTighe:
Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 13, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T623_1359; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 156.
Samual Mctighe...36...Mar 1864...PA, PA, PA...laborer...married 6 years
Johona A Mctighe...24...Dec 1875...PA, Ireland, Ireland...2 children, 2 living
Alexandra Mctighe...5...Mar 1895...PA, PA, PA...son
Margrett Mctighe...4...May 1896...PA, PA, PA...dau

1920 - Pittsburgh Ward 13, Allegheny, Pennsylvania
Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 13, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1522; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 526; Image: 235.
Frank S McTighe...46...PA, PA, PA...laborer, brass shop...owns home...reads/writes
Johannah McTighe...36...PA, Ireland, Ireland
Frances McTighe...18...PA, PA, PA...son

Children of JOANNA WARD and FRANK MCTIGHE are:
15.....i.....MARGARET MCTIGHE was born May 1896 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. .....i.....JOHN ALEXANDER MCTIGHE was b. 31 Mar 1894 Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and died 28 Sep 1969 in Riverside County, California. Based on the 1920 census, he may first have married CATHERINE EGAN about 1916 in Pittsburgh; he married CLOE ANNA HAZEN, presumably in California. Burial for John and Cloe: Forest Lawn in Englewood, Los Angeles, CA

WORLD WAR I DRAFT REGISTRATION CARD
Name: John A Mctighe
113 Dinwiddie St.
City: Pittsburgh
County: Allegheny
State: Pennsylvania
Birthplace: Pennsylvania;United States of America
Birth Date: 31 Mar 1894
elevator operator at William Penn Hotel
wife, 1 child
Race: Caucasian (White)
Tall, medium build, gray eyes, dark hair, not bald
FHL Roll Number: 1908015
DraftBoard: 2

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 1, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1517; Page: 21B; Enumeration District: 325; Image: 142. January 15, 1920
William A Egan...26...PA, PA, PA...single...repairman, awning company
Cora May Egan...46...PA, PA, OH...widowed...mother...janitoress, office building
Erasmus Divvens...81...PA, PA, PA...widowed...grandfather
John A Mctigh...25...PA, PA, PA...brother-in-law...laborer, department store
Catherine Mctigh...24...PA, PA, PA...sister
Catherine Mctigh...3 4/12...PA, PA, PA...niece
William R Mctigh...1 6/12...PA, PA, PA...nephew

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Roll: 144; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 310; Image: 936.0. April 7, 1930
John A Mctigh...35...PA, PA, PA...salesman, dairy company...married at 21
Cloe A Mctigh...34...KS, MD, IA...married at 16
Charlette L Caldwell...1 11/12...CA, New Mexico, Colorado...dau

CALIFORNIA DEATH INDEX
Name: John A McTighe
Social Security #: 565161638
Sex: Male
Birth Date: 31 Mar 1894
Birthplace: Pennsylvania
Death Date: 28 Sep 1969
Death Place: Riverside
Mother's Maiden Name: Ward

SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX
Name: John McTighe
SSN: 565-16-1638
Last Residence: 91752 Mira Loma, Riverside, California, United States of America
Born: 31 Mar 1894
Died: Sep 1969
State (Year) SSN issued: California (Before 1951)

CALIFORNIA DEATH INDEX
Name: Cloie Anna McTighe [Cloie Anna Hazen]
Social Security #: 550216841
Sex: Female
Birth Date: 24 Sep 1895
Birthplace: Kansas
Death Date: 10 Oct 1981
Death Place: Kern
Mother's Maiden Name: Saunders
Father's Surname: Hazen

7. MARGARET WARD (JAMES) was born March 1876 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and died January 27, 1917. She married JOHN M. SCHERER October 19, 1898 in Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Pittsburgh, Alleghency Co. PA. He was born September 1873, and died November 04, 1954.

Notes for MARGARET WARD:
.....Margaret Ward was baptized 1 July 1877 at Sacred Heart Church, Pittsburgh, PA. On 19 October 1898 she married at Scared Heart Church to John M. Scherer, who was then driving a Pittsburgh trolley car. He was a handyman or day laborer most of his life, born in September 1893 to a Pennsylvanian mother and German father. The Fiore family (who became friends of the family--sources are Irene Fiore Martini and her sister Rose Fiore Saterial) bought a house at 182 Shetland Ave. about 1909, along with two four-room houses behind it facing Maxwell Alley. In one lived the Scherers, paying $5/month rent. The Fiores saw John as polite, quiet, rather a loner, whose only vice was pipe smoking (Fine Brothers tobacco). Margaret was neat and very clean about her person and her house, smiled a lot, tall, not heavy, wore her dark hair "with a tube on top" and wore long skirts with blouses she made herself. As a special treat, she used to bake bread and sprinkle sugar on top. Maggie read palms and cards, successfully predicting the birth of a Fiore son before Mrs. Fiore knew she was pregnant and predicting daughter Rose's unhappy first marriage. She used to tell ghost stories, and Ed Heh, whose mother was John Scherer's only sister, remembered this. "She used to scare the hell out of us, making the walk home, especially at night, pretty scary." Mrs. Fiore used to say to her children, "Why can't you be more like the Scherer boys?" because they were polite and quiet, well-mannered. Around 1914-15, the Fiores raised the rent a few dollars, unknowingly forcing the Scherers to move.
.....Mrs. Fiore made weekly trips to see Margaret, about 1/3rd mild away on Missouri or Paulson Avenue, across the Larimer Bridge, carrying clothes and an occasional snack. (Once Barney spied a bag of doughnuts on the table and ate one. "Barney, thems Mrs. Fiore's!" Maggie cried, but Mrs. Fiore had brought them for the Scherers.)
.....Around 1915-16, Maggie took a job at Temington School, a few blocks away. Mrs. Fiore tracked her down there and found her pushing a big mop in a big wooden bucket; she'd become a janitor because money was short. She scolded, "Margaret, you shouldn't be working in your condition!" A few weeks later, Margaret was admitted to Pittsburgh Hospital, but her only concern was for boys. Mrs. Fiore visited, leaving three dollars under Maggie's pillow. She died there at 8:45 a.m. on 27 January 1917 of chronic interstitial nephritis. At that time, they had been living at 1206 Paulson Avenue.
.....Following Maggie's death, the three boys moved in with Bernard and Mary WARD Haas. John took to drinking, so his youngest son spent some time in St. Peter & Paul Orphanage. John died of an accidental fall and was buried beside Maggie at Calvary Cemetery on 4 November 1954, age 81.

Children of MARGARET WARD and JOHN SCHERER are:
.....i.....JOHN M. SCHERER, b. 1900; d. March 07, 1900. He was just 15 days old. Burial: Calvary Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

15.....ii.....BERNARD SCHERER, b. January 31, 1902; d. February 03, 1982.
.....iii.....JAMES SCHERER, b. Abt. 1902; d. Abt. 1960. James left Pittsburgh for Cleveland, settled in Erie. Died of heart attack 1960. Wife Marguerite.

.....iv.....MARGARET A. SCHERER, b. Abt. February 1904; d. December 16, 1904.
16.....v.....JOSEPH DAVID SCHERER, b. March 23, 1910.

8. WILLIAM THOMAS MCCLAFFERTY (ELLEN WARD, JAMES) was born 02 Dec 1896 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and d. there 26 Apr 1970. On 23 Jun 1919 in Wellsburg, Brooke, West Virginia, USA, he married VIOLA MILDRED JAQUAY, who was born 25 Jul 1903 in Pennsylvania and d. in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA on 04 Oct 1979.

WORLD WAR I DRAFT REGISTRATION CARD
Name: William Thomas Mcclafferty
220 Wallace Street
City: Pittsburgh
County: Allegheny
State: Pennsylvania
Birthplace: Pennsylvania;United States of America
Birth Date: 2 Dec 1896
Father's birthplace: County Donegal, Ireland
citizen of United States
Employer: Thomas Gallegher, First Ave., Pittsburgh, PA
relative: Mrs. Mary Glover, same address
medium height/build, blue eyes, brown hair
FHL Roll Number: 1908016
DraftBoard: 3

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 4, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1519; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 363; Image: 684.
William Mcclafferty...23...PA, Ireland, PA...rents...can read/write...laborer, Butterine Factory
Viola Mcclafferty...17...PA, PA, PA...can read/write

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1971; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 75; Image: 853.0.
Wm Mcclafferty...33...PA, Ireland, California...married at 22...laborer, steel mill
Viola Mcclafferty...26...PA, PA, PA...married at 16
Mildred Mcclafferty...10...PA, PA, PA
William Mcclafferty...8...PA, PA, PA
Marie Mcclafferty...6...PA, PA, PA

WORLD WAR II ENLISTMENT
Name: William T McClafferty
Birth Year: 1897
Race: White, Citizen (White)
Nativity State or Country: Pennsylvania
State of Residence: Pennsylvania
County or City: Allegheny
Enlistment Date: 8 Oct 1942
Enlistment State: Pennsylvania
Enlistment City: Pittsburgh
Branch: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Branch Code: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Grade: Private
Grade Code: Private
Term of Enlistment: Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Component: Selectees (Enlisted Men)
Source: Enlisted Man, Regular Army, after 3 months of Discharge
Education: Grammar school
Civil Occupation: Retail managers
Marital Status: Divorced, with dependents
Height: 65
Weight: 120

Source Citation: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania Veterans Burial Cards, 1929-1990; Archive Collection Number: Series 1-8; Folder Number: 308
Name: Wm T Mc Clafferty
Birth Date: 2 Dec 1896
Death Date: 26 Apr 1970
Age: 73
Military Branch: Army
Service from 10-8-42 to 7-1-45
Co. C, something that looks like "Cvl B," T-5
Cemetery Name: Allegheny
Cemetery Location: Allegheny
granite tombstone, in vets area

Sources include:
KORYDA/JAQUAY TREE at http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/4849402/person/2011594882

Children of William Thomas McClafferty and Viola Jaquay were:
18.....i.....Mildred Viola McClafferty, b. 30 Apr 1920 and d. 03 Aug 2001, both in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA. She married JOHN HENRY HRYNISZAK, who was b. 20 Dec 1915 PA and d. 03 Aug 2001 Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
.....ii.....William Thomas McClafferty, b. 03 Apr 1922, married BETTY ANN LONG, and d. November 1985 in Apache Junction, Pinal, Arizona.
.....iii.....Marie Eleanor McClafferty, b. 31 Aug 1924 Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA, and d. 23 Oct 2011 in Jacksonville Beach, Duval County, Florida. She married FREDERICK NELSON REXROAD.

9. ANNA MARIE WARD (MICHAEL JAMES, JAMES) was born July 06, 1896 in Elwood, Madison County, Indiana, and died December 09, 1992 in Elwood, Madison County, Indiana. She married JOSEPH WILLIAMS August 09, 1920 in Elwood, Madison County, Indiana. He was born February 19, 1897, and died July 03, 1984 in Elwood, Madison County, Indiana.

Notes for ANNA MARIE WARD:
.....When she was baptized, "Papa" had a big barrel of beer in the yard and threw a big party with his fellow glassblowers. Anna's mother didn't want her to marry Joe Williams, claiming she was "too young" at 24, and she would quit working, so they'd lose the money--she always gave Tess her paycheck! Only "Papa" and her grandmother approved; Aunt Jane and Minnie were against marriage as an institution, they said! Perhaps they changed their minds later, for Daddy Joe was awfully good to them, sending them the daily paper even before he'd read it, since they didn't subscribe. On 9 August 1920 she married Joseph Lawrence WILLIAMS, whom the family called "Daddy Joe."
.....Both were members of the Parish Council and Ecumenical Diocesan Council. Daddy Joe retired from Franier Packing Co. and Widmeyer Co. He was a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus and member of the St. Joseph Choir. Born 19 February 1897, he was the son of John Williams (12 September 1863-24 August 1959) and Mary Ripberger (1 May 1861-20 March 1942); Joe died 3 July 1984 in Elwood, Indiana. Dark hair and brown eyes come from his family.
.....Anna was in the Elwood Department Club, Church Women United, St. Anne's Study Club of National Council of Catholic Women, the Rosary Society, and was associated with the Girl Scouts. She worked with the Red Cross and cancer drives and aided migrant workers through the AMOS program.
.....In 1980, when she and Daddy Joe celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, they traveled to Ireland for the first time as a gift from their grandchildren.
.....Anna used to say that Angela BRADY Wheatley was "more of a sister to me than my own sisters are, because we have so much in common," and Margaret Ward was always jealous of that. When the families got so big that Anna and Angela hadn't time to talk, they planned to meet at Mike White's Wonder Bar, but never got around to it. Both women lost a child. When Dorothy Wheatley had her first convulsion on a Sunday, the phone operator told Anna to call Angela. Anna did, then went down. Dr. W. H. Hoppenrath had her taken to Mercy, and Anna stayed all night there a few times to relieve Angela from the death watch. Dorothy told Anna that Herb Wheatley was going to buy her a piano when she got home. A few weeks later, Angela called Anna and asked, "Are you going to 6 a.m. Mass?" because Dorothy had died. Similarly, Angela was with Anna the night Larry Williams lay dying. Rita Ward gave him castor oil in red pop, to no avail. There was a big tomato festival going on, and the Wheatleys had given them the Model T to drive to the festival, but they went to the cemetery on a lovely moonlit night instead and stood over the tiny grave, feeling he wasn't there. Tom Williams and Bob Wheatley had a "no girls allowed" fort in the back of Anna's house; Sis Williams and Judy Wheatley had a newspaper on what Irene Mattingly, Mabel, and they were doing, typed up on Anna's typewriter.
.....Anna died Dec. 9, 1992.

Children of ANNA WARD and JOSEPH WILLIAMS are:
19.....i.....JOANNE T. WILLIAMS, born, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; m. ANTHONY CHARLES PRIESHOFF on June 23, 1942..
20.....ii.....JOHN MICHAEL WILLIAMS, b. November 07, 1923, Elwood, Madison, Indiana; m. MARY ANN BLITZ, June 24, 1950; b. December 08, 1924; d. September 1968.
21.....iii.....THOMAS EDWARD WILLIAMS, b. November 14, 1929; m. ALBERTINE BARNES, known as Abby. He worked at General Motors and Anheiser-Busch, and retired to Hendersonville, North Carolina from Nashua, New Hampshire.
22.....iv.....MARY MARGARET WILLIAMS m. JAMES BRENNER, who was born 11 May 1931 Alexandria, Madison, Indiana, USA and died 24 Aug 1995 Muncie, Delaware, Indiana, USA.

.....v.....LAWRENCE JOSEPH WILLIAMS, b. July 15, 1937, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; d. July 27, 1939, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana.

Notes for LAWRENCE JOSEPH WILLIAMS:
Larry was a lovely baby whose picture won first prize in a contest once, died 27 July 1939, possibly of infantile leukemia, although the family used to warn children away from the red berries on the bush out back by claiming they poisoned him. The family had returned from the lake and he died in less than a week. Rita Ward fed him castor oil in red soda pop, but it didn't help.

10. THOMAS JOSEPH WARD (MICHAEL JAMES, JAMES) was born March 01, 1908, and died 17 December 1980. He was buried in Elwood, Madison, Indiana. He married ANN KESERICH, born 06 Aug 1909 Gary, Lake, Indiana; died 23 Aug 2002 Palos Heights, Cook, Illinois, USA.

Source Citation: Year: 1940; Census Place: Gary, Lake, Indiana; Roll: T627_1119; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 95-6. Rhode Island Street.
Thomas Ward...31...OH...maintenance man...rents home, $30/month...4 years of high school...income $2000
Ann Ward...30...IN...high school, 3rd year
3...2...Maryland

SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX
Name: Thomas Ward
SSN: 218-09-1661
Last Residence: 46036 Elwood, Madison, Indiana, United States of America
Born: 1 Mar 1908
Died: Dec 1980
State (Year) SSN issued: Maryland (Before 1951)

23....i.....MARTHA ANN WARD
.....ii.....

11. JAMES MICHAEL WARD (MICHAEL JAMES, JAMES) was born May 08, 1904 Elwood, Madison, Indiana, and died March 16, 1937 Gary, Lake, Indiana. He married EDNA BRADY. She died May 16, 1936 Gary, Lake, Indiana.

Notes for JAMES MICHAEL WARD:
.....Jimmy loved animals and used to be late to school--if he got there at all--because he would stop to pet the milkman's horse. They rerouted him so he didn't pass the milkman to solve that problem. A grocery store on Anderson, run by a Catholic, used a horse and wagon to deliver groceries, and Jim ran errands for them because he wanted to be with the horse. He missed several days of school while his father was out of town dealing with a glass factory problem, and the truant officer came for him. It's said that Ed, Tom, and Jimmy owned an old junker of a car and two Fridays in a row the Murphy brothers borrowed it to go to Noblesville, until the boys learned they were going to KKK meetings in it--and with no blacks or Jews living in Elwood, the KKK had only Catholics like the Wards to pick on! (Unfortunately, Ed told me he didn't remember this happening.) Jimmy loved dogs, all animals, and children. He was a member of the "G Street Terriers" ball club, which only possessed one bat.
.....Jim and Tom were good friends, but Ed wasn't as popular. Jim and Tom would "go junking" on Saturday mornings for scrap metal to sell to the junk wagon. They would hide their funds under a board in the clothes closet. Their mother knew it, and once took a quarter to buy a newspaper, replacing it with a dime--but they noticed!
.....Anna remembered Jim as sensible, giving good advice. Once she was mad at Jessie Fettig and wrote her an angry letter, but her brother told her, "I wouldn't send that if I were you," so she didn't.
.....When the rest of the family was in Fort Smith, he was in his twenties and working in the mill, boarding with Joe and Anna Williams. He came to Ft. Smith to spend Christmas with them, bringing a play stove with cooking utensils for Mary. Jimmy and Edna BRADY (which see) were married 4 May 1926 at St. John's Catholic Church in Tipton, Indiana.

Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Death Certificates; Year: 1937; Roll: 04
James Michael Ward died at Mercy Hospital in Calument Township, Gary, Lake, Indiana, USA on March 16, 1937 at 1:30 AM and being under treatment since March 6. Cause of death: pleuropneumonia with effusion. He was widowed. He lived at 4021 Van Buren. He worked as a roller at Am. Sheet & Tin Plate. He was born May 8, 1904 in Elwood, Madison, Indiana. Parents: Michael Ward, born Pittsburg, PA and Thearesa Rooney, born Indiana. Geisen Funeral Home of Gary was in charge and he would be buried in Fairview Cemetery in Tipton, IN. Informant: Mrs. Thearesa Ward of 1223 So. G Street, Elwood, IN.,P. The Elwood Call-Leader (Vol. XXXVI, #106) for Tuesday, Mary 4, 1926, on page 3 reported:

PRETTY CHURCH WEDDING
One of the season's prettiest weddings took place at St. John's Catholic Church this morning at 8 o'clock when Miss Edna Brady, charming daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Brady of Tipton, became the bride of James Ward, of this city, son of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ward of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Rev. Joseph Bislstein, pastor of St. John's church, performed the impressive single ring ceremony. The couple was attended by Miss Angela Brady, sister of the bride and Herbert Wheatley of this city. Following the ceremony, a wedding dinner was held at the home of the bride's parents, for the bridal party and few relatives and friends. The bride is a popular and well-liked young lady of Tipton. She has been employed in Indianapolis for the past two years, where she had made a host of friends. The groom is prominent young man of this city and is well-liked by all who know him. After a short honeymoon trip the couple will return to Gary, to make their home, where the bridegroom is employed in the tin mills.

Edna Brady Ward died in Gary, Lake, Indiana, 16 May 1936, after scarlet fever led to rheumatic fever and weakened her heart. The Elwood Call-Leader (Vol. XXXXVI, #119, page one, for Monday, 18 May 1936, reported:

MRS. EDNA WARD DIES
SATURDAY AT GARY HOME .....Mrs. Edna Ward, 31, wife of James Ward and daughter-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ward, 1223 South G street, died at her home in Gary Saturday evening at 6 o'clock, of heart trouble and complications.
.....She had visited Elwood on several occasions and was well-known here. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Brady, of Tipton, and was born in 1904.
.....Surviving besides the husband are two children, Rita, 8, and Mary Jane, 7, and her mother, Mrs. Brady, of Tipton.
.....Funeral services will be conducted at the St. John's Catholic Church in Tipton tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock, and burial will be in the Tipton cemetery.

My dear Mrs. Brady--
.....I would much prefer to call you Bell, or better yet, Momma. May I?
.....It isn't at all necessary to remind you that Thursday is Edna's birthday, but since we can't celebrate the occasion with her, we can secure some comfort by doing so together. How I wish it were possible to be together today to express our thoughts of her, and what she has meant to both of us. I am not unmindful of the reasoning that, though madly in love of her, my affection could not equal that of yours. No Husband can ever expect to rival the Love of a Mother for her child, but with you I share for her all the affection of one who was permitted to be her Husband.
.....I recall having written you several years ago on this same day, telling you of all the good traits I found in her, and just what she meant to me. Today I repeat them over again, and have many more to add. I pointed out her unselfishness, her strength of character, that she embodied all that was pure and noble, the perfect housekeeper, a true companion, and to all this she added that divine touch of Motherhood. Edna was truly the Woman Dependable, and as near perfection as it is possible and still remain a human being. Why are there so few like her in this world?
.....I know that I owe to you all that she meant to me, for you placed in her all of her goodness. I can't say "Thank you" for that falls so short of how I feel about your good work. So what I told you a few years ago still is true--That if you never did anything else in life worthwhile, the fact that you brought Edna into the world should assure you of a place in Heaven.

JAMES WARD DIES EARLY TODAY
AT GARY HOSPITAL .....James Michael Ward, 33, former Elwood resident, died at 1:30 o'clock this morning in Gary, of pneumonia.
.....The deceased was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ward, residing at 1223 South G street, and was born May 8, 1904. He was united in marriage to Miss Edna Brady, of Tipton, in May, 1926. She died May 16, 1936.
.....Mr. Ward was employed as a roller in the mills at Gary. He was a member of the Elwood Council of the Knights of Columbus.
.....Surviving besides the parents are two daughters, Rita, 10, and Mary Jane, 8; three sisters, Mrs. Joseph Williams, Elwood; Miss Mary Ward, at home; and Miss Margaret Ward, Anderson; and two brothers, Thomas and Edward Ward, both of Elwood.
.....The body will be brought to the York Memorial Chapel tomorrow morning and later will be removed to the house of the parents.
.....Funeral services will be conducted at the St. Joseph's Church Thursday morning at 9 o'clock with the pastor, Father N.C. Huemmer, in charge. Burial will be made beside his wife in the Catholic cemetery at Tipton.

12. ANNA LEONA HAAS (MARY WARD, JAMES) was born 29 April 1887, and died June 16, 1938. She married JOHN HENRY WOISTMAN Abt. 1908. Anna had seven children, but only Henry, Anna Marie, and Leona survived. After Anna's death of carcinoma of the uterus, Henry remarried and lived a couple years, leaving a widow and one son.Anna's death certificate can be found at ancestry.com and Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906-1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania..

Children of Anna Haas and Henry Woistman include:
.....i..... HENRY F. WOISTMAN, born 12 February 1912, died 02 Dec 1983, both in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. . Spouse: MILDRED.

Publication: News Record, Location: North Hills, Pennsylvania, Issue Date: Tuesday, December 6, 1983
Henry Woistman, Ross
.....Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Monday morning in Sts. Peter and Paul Church, East End, Pittsburgh, for Henry F. Woistman, 73, who died Friday, Dec. 2, 1983, in Suburban General Hospital.
.....He was born to late John H. and Anna Haas Woistman. >BR> .....Burial will be in St. Stanislaus Cemetery, Shaler

13. BERNARD WARD HAAS (MARY WARD, JAMES) was born December 08, 1900 Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; and died in Glenshaw, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, USA on 29 January 1971. On 17 Jun 1936 in Miami, Miami-Dade, Florida, USA he married FRANCES MARY WOOD, born 25 April 1903 in Pennsylvania, died in Longwood, Seminole, Florida, USA on 04 Apr 1988.

Year: 1940; Census Place: Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T627_3653; Page: 17B; Enumeration District: 69-50
Mary Wood...63...England...naturalized...high school, 4 yr...widowed...rents home/$106...housekeeper
Bernard Haas...39...PA...college, 2 yr...salesman...income: $850...son-in-law
Frances Haas...37...PA, PA, England...married at 22...no children...daughter
Paul Haas...20...PA...college 2 yr...son (listed as Paul Wood in 1930 census, so this is undoubtedly a census error)

SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX
Name: Bernard Haas
SSN: 262-05-3162
Last Residence: 15116 Glenshaw, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Born: 8 Dec 1900
Died: Jan 1971
State (Year) SSN issued: Florida (Before 1951 )

14. PAUL A. GRETZ (SARAH WARD, JAMES) was born March 1897, and died January 28, 1982. He married MARY BUCILLI.

The Chronicle Tribune for Marion, page 12, for 29 January 1982 reported:

PAUL A. GRETZ .....Paul A. Gretz, 84, 1623 E. 37th St., Marion, died at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at Marion General Hospital.
.....Mr. Gretz, a life resident of Marion, was a retired self-employed mechanic. A World War I veteran, he was a member of Veterans of Foreigh Wars Post 6748, American Legion Post 10, and the St. Paul Catholic Church.
.....Surviving are his wife, Mary; two sons, John and Pete, both of Marion; one daughter, Mrs. Joe (Mary) Savarino, Somerset; one brother, Francis, Indianapolis; one sister, Mrs. Mary West, Bedrod; and six grandchildren.
.....Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the St. Paul's Catholic Church, 1031 Kem Road, Marion, with the Rev. Joseph Grace officiating. Burial will be in the Grant Memorial Park cemetery, Marion.
....Friends may call from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today at the Needham and Son Funeral Home, 814 Adams St., Marion, where the Rosary will be recited at 8 p.m. today.

15. MARGARET MCTIGHE (JOANNA WARD, JAMES) She married THOMAS O'REILLY. They are both buried in Calvary Cemetery, Lost Angeles County, Calfornia.

16. BERNARD SCHERER (MARGARET WARD, JAMES) was born January 31, 1902, and died February 03, 1982. Bernard lied about his age to enter the Air Corps, became a Master Sergeant, and retired after 30 years to Orlando, Florida, dying there 3 February 1982

17. JOSEPH DAVID SCHERER (MARGARET WARD, JAMES) was born March 23, 1910.

Notes for JOSEPH DAVID SCHERER:
He was born 23 March 1910 and his mother wore a bright red suit that day and felt even brighter when Mrs. Fiore baked a big pan of rice pudding for the Scherers. Joe became a meatcutter, which is how he first met the DiDario family: Angelo DiDario and Michaeline DeMarco DiDario (both born in Italy), and daughter Mary. When they hadn't seen him for a few days, Mary and Michelina found him in his one-room apartment, alone, sick, and close to death. They nursed him back to health, and Joseph married Mary, born 21 January 1916, a beautifully Italian woman who let him have sauerkraut once a year, for New Year's! Joseph's eyes would tear when he mentioned his mother, whom he thought of often. He was "kind, generous, hardworking, and had the unique ability for one who had reached only 8th grade to let me, his only child, be myself. For those he loved he couldn't give enough and couldn't feel enough," remembered his son. Joseph died of a heart attack at age 58 and was buried 23 October 1968 in Calvary Cemetery, Pittsburgh, PA.

18. MILDRED MCCLAFFERTY (WILLIAM THOMAS, ELLEN, JAMES) was born 30 April 1920 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania and d. there 03 Aug 2001. She married John Henry Hryniszak, b. 30 Apr 1920 PA and d. 14 Jul 1986 Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA.
.....i.....John Henry Hryniszak, b. 12 Oct 1952, d. 14 Feb 2010 Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA.
.....ii.....
.....iii.....

19. JOANNE T. WILLIAMS (ANNA, MICHAEL JAMES, JAMES), born 16 Jul 1922, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; m. ANTHONY CHARLES PRIESHOFF on June 23, 1942. He served in the Navy in World War II and is buried in St. Joseph Cemetery, Elwood, Madison, IN. He was b. 05 Mar 1920 and d. 27 Sep 1997. Joanne died December 27, 2016 in Elwood and is also buried in St. Joseph Cemetery, Elwood, Madison, Indiana, USA.

Obituary from the Copher-Fesler-May Funeral Home
Elwood, Madison Co., IN
27 Dec 2016
Joanne T. Prieshoff
July 16, 1922 - December 26, 2016
.....Joanne T. Prieshoff, age 94 of Elwood, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on Monday, December 26, 2016 at St. Vincent Mercy Hospital in Elwood after a long, well-lived life. She was born July 16, 1922 in Elwood, the daughter of Joseph L. and Anna M. (Ward) Williams. She was a 1940 graduate of Elwood High School. She married the love of her life, Anthony Charles “Tony” Prieshoff on June 13, 1942, and they shared over 55 years of marriage together prior to his passing in 1997. Joanne was a devoted member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elwood and was a member of the National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW), the Ladies auxiliary to the Knights of Columbus, and the Altar and Rosary Society. In the 1940’s, she worked in a local factory to assist the support efforts of World War II. She also worked at Frazier’s Canning Company in Elwood seasonally, and worked at Indiana-Michigan Power Company. Joanne later worked in production at Delco Remy Division of General Motors at Plant 20 in Anderson for nearly 30 years, and retired in 1982. She enjoyed crocheting, flower gardening, reading, music of all kinds, and dancing. She also formerly enjoyed spending time at Indiana lakes and traveling throughout the country and overseas with her husband. Joanne had a great sense of humor, and especially adored babies. More than anything, she was devoted to her family who will miss her very much.
.....Joanne’s surviving legacy includes son, Daniel A. Prieshoff of Elwood; 3 daughters, Mary K. Fincher of Atlanta, Margaret A. (husband Larry) Hudson of Elwood, and Theresa M. (husband John) Pichtel of Gaston; special grandson who Joanne was a second mother to growing up in her home, Michael (wife Cynthia) Prieshoff; brother, Thomas Williams of Inverness, FL; sister, Margaret Brenner of Alexandria; 7 grandchildren, Lora Engle, Leah (husband Stephen) Pichtel, Matthew Paro, Kendra Paro, Jozef Pichtel, Derek Paro and Michael (wife Cynthia) Prieshoff, 5 great-grandchildren, Zachary, Michaela, Nolan, Colin, and Loui; 4 great great-grandchildren, Calum, Cayden, Liam, and Zane; and several nieces and nephews.
.....She was preceded in death by her parents; infant brother, Lawrence Williams; brother, Michael Williams; daughter, Anne Louise Paro; and granddaughter, April Denise Hudson.
.....A Mass of Christian Burial Service will be conducted at 11:00 AM on Saturday, December 31, 2016 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elwood with Father Dan Duff officiating. Burial will follow in St. Joseph Cemetery in Elwood. Visitation for family and friends will be held from 2 to 7 PM on Friday, December 30, 2016 at Copher-Fesler-May Funeral Home, and will include a Rosary Service recitation at 6 PM. Memorial contributions are suggested to the St. Joseph Church Building Fund, the Alzheimer’s Association, or the American Life League through the funeral home.

Children of ANTHONY PRIESHOFF and JOANNE T. WILLIAMS:
.....i.....
.....ii.....Anne Louise Prieshoff (born 03 Feb 1962 in Elwood) died 14 July 2010 in Indianapolis, Marion, IN of cancer.

Obituary from the Elwood Call-Leader, Elwood, Madison Co., IN, 15 Jul 2010
ANNE LOUISE PARO
...Anne Louise (Prieshoff) Paro, 48, of Elwood, passed away Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at St.Vincent Hospice in Indianapolis following an extended illness.
...Anne was born Feb. 3, 1962, in Elwood, the daughter of the late Anthony C. Prieshoff and Joanne (Williams) Prieshoff.
...She married Charles R. Paro Oct. 27, 1989. He survives.
...Anne was a devoted wife and mother. She loved spending time with her family.
...She is survived by her husband, Charles Paro of Elwood; one daughter, Kendra Anne Paro of Elwood; three sons, Michael and wife, Cyndi Prieshoff, Matthew J. Paro and Derek S. Paro, all of Elwood; mother, Joanne Prieshoff of Elwood; a brother, Dan Prieshoff of Elwood; three sisters, Kathy Fincher of Atlanta, Margee and husband, Larry Hudson of Elwood and Theresa and husband, John Pichtel of Muncie; and several nieces and nephews.
...She was preceded in death by her father and a niece, April Hudson.
...Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Monday, July 19, 2010 at St. Joseph Catholic Church with Father Paul Cochran officiating. Burial will be at St. Joseph Cemetery.
...Friends may call from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Dunnichay Funeral Home, with the Rosary at 6 p.m.
...Memorial contributions may be made to St.Vincent Hospice.

20. JOHN MICHAEL WILLIAMS (ANNA, MICHAEL JAMES, JAMES), b. November 07, 1923, Elwood, Madison, Indiana; m. MARY ANN BLITZ, June 24, 1950; b. December 08, 1924; d. September 1968.

Notes for JOHN MICHAEL WILLIAMS:
At one time, Mick dated Betty Moyer, the woman who later married Lee Leavell, and Rita WARD Leavell remembers letting the air out of Lee's tires several times to get back at him for stealing Mick's girl! Mick's picture stood under a green Tiffany lamp in the front window of Aunt Jane ROONEY's house all through World War II. He served in Africa and in the invasion of Italy. He became a sergeant but was busted to buck private when he hit an Englishman--which made him a real Irish hero to Aunt Jane! Mick married Mary Ann Biltz on 24 June 1950. She was born 8 December 1924 and died of cancer 14 September 1968. The Biltz family was blond and of German descent. Mick sold insurance and had the gift of gab.

John Michael “Mick” Williams, 88, died on June 17, 2012 at his home on Lake Tippecanoe, Syracuse, IN. He was surrounded by his seven children. He was born in Elwood, IN to Joseph & Anne Williams on November 7, 1923. He married Mary Ann Biltz on June 24, 1950. She passed away on September 14, 1968. He was a member of the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elwood until moving to Lake Tippecanoe and was a current member of St. Martin dePorres parish in Syracuse. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus Council 6323. He is survived by seven children in whom he instilled the importance of family, faith, and having fun in their lives. Terri Wentz (Orv Myers) of Goshen, Karen (Randy) Tunis of Elwood, Joe (Debbie) Williams of Goodyear, AZ, Tim Williams of Muncie, Ann Williams of Denver, CO, Betsy Williams of Leesburg and Vince Williams of Indianapolis. Nine grandchildren – Lisa (Eric) Bishop of Columbus, Angela Wentz of Atlanta, GA, Julia (Christopher) Bernard of San Francisco, CA, Michele Wilson of Elwood, Stephanie (Zach) Head of Elwood, Chris (Julie) Williams of Goodyear, AZ, Clint (Christina) Williams of Goodyear, AZ, William Thieme of Denver, CO and Michael Thieme of Denver, CO. Twelve great-grandchildren – Erica Bishop, Madyson Lane, Alexandra Rudig, McKenzie Wilson, Macy Wilson, Quentin Head, Connor Bernard, Gabby Graham, Mya Williams, Jada Williams, Kami Williams and Keith Williams, along with one great-great-grandchild Eli Miller. Mick is also survived by two sisters – Joanne Prieshoff of Elwood and Margaret Brenner of Alexandria, and a brother Tom (Abby) Williams of Inverness, FL. In addition to his parents and wife, he was preceded in death by his little brother, Larry Williams and grandson Eric Wentz, who shared his birthday. He graduated from Elwood High School in 1942 and attended Butler University, where he was a member of the football team. He graduated from International Business College in Ft. Wayne. Mick served his country as a cryptographer as a Staff Sergeant under General Hap Arnold in the US Army Air Corp in Italy and North Africa in WWII and was offered a position in the Diplomatic Corp at the end of the war. He was retired from Farm Bureau Insurance, having worked in Muncie, Anderson, Ft. Wayne and Warsaw. He was a member of the American Legion Post 253 in North Webster and the Benevolent Protectorate of Elks in Elwood. Calling will be Tuesday, June 19, 2012 from 4-8 PM at the Eastlund Funeral Home at 7458 E. 1000 N. Syracuse, IN 46567 with a Rosary service at 7:30. A funeral mass will be Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 10:30 AM at St. Martin dePorres Catholic Church with Father Richard Hire officiating. Interment will be at the St. Joseph Catholic cemetery in Elwood with full Military Honors at 3:00 PM. Family members will receive those wishing to express their condolences at the cemetery after 2:30. Memorial contributions may be made to: Kosciusko Home Care & Hospice or The Tippecanoe Watershed Foundation. Envelopes will be available at the funeral home.

Published in Citrus County Chronicle on Aug. 20, 2013
.....Albertine "Abby" Williams, 86, of Inverness, Fla., died Sunday, Aug. 18, 2013, at her home under the loving care of her family and Hospice of Citrus County. Abby was born May 29, 1927, in Fort Fairfield, Maine, the daughter of Gilbert and Bertha Barnes. She worked in a factory doing assembly work. Abby moved to Inverness in 1997 from Hendersonville, N.C. She was a member of Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Inverness.
…..Mrs. Williams was preceded in death by her parents, and her son, Kenneth. Survivors include her husband of 62 years, Thomas Williams; son, Anthony Williams of Manchester, N.H.; daughter, Sandra Pelletier of Inverness; sisters, Rowena Rand of Presque Isle, Maine, Maxine McLaughlin of Caribou, Maine; five grandchildren; and six great-granddaughters; and her beloved dog, Willie.
.....Visitation will be 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013, with a vigil service at 5:30 p.m., at Heinz Funeral Home Chapel. The funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013 at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, Inverness. Fr. Erwin Belgica will officiate.
Arrangements by Heinz Funeral Home and Cremation, Inverness.

THOMAS WILLIAMS OBITUARY
…..Williams, Thomas Edward, 92, Inverness, Florida, passed on May 15, 2022. A native of Elwood, Indiana, Mr. Williams was born to the late Joseph and Anna (Ward) Williams on November 14, 1929. He has been a resident of Inverness for over 20 years.
…..He was a veteran of the United States Navy where he served as an Electrician's Mate between 1948-1952. Following his Navy service, he worked as an electrician for Delco for 17 years, maintenance for Budweiser for 24 years, and a union shop leader for 21 years.
…..He was a member of Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church where he served as Head Usher. Mr. Williams was a 3rd Degree member of the Knights of Columbus having been a member from 1948-2022. He was a crime watch commander for 20 years. He was also a private pilot.
…..Mr. Williams is survived by his son Anthony; his daughter Sandra; 5 grandchildren; 6 great-grandchildren; his sister Margaret Brenner; and many other extended family and friends. He was preceded in death by his wife Albertine, his son Kenneth, grandson Tommy, sister Joanne Prieshoff, and 2 brothers Lawrence Williams and Michael Williams.
…..A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, at 11 AM at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Inverness, Florida. Inurnment with Military Honors will follow at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida. In lieu of flowers, family requests donations to a local veterans group assisting veterans.
…..Heinz Funeral Home & Cremation, Inverness, FL. www.heinzfh.com.
…..Published by Citrus County Chronicle on May 22, 2022.

…..i…..
…..ii…..
…..iii…..Kenneth James Williams was born 29 August 1952 in Presque Isle, Aroostook, Maine, and died 2 July 2008 in Inverness, Citrus, Florida.

Published in Citrus County Chronicle on July 6, 2008
Kenneth James Williams, 55, of Inverness, FL. died on July 2, 2008. Kenneth was born on August 29, 1952, in Presque Isle, Maine, son of Thomas and Albertine (Barnes) Williams. He was a graduate of Nashua High School in New Hampshire. Kenneth served his country in the U.S. Army. He was a carpenter. Survivors include his parents Thomas and Albertine Williams of Inverness; brother Anthony Williams of Manchester, NH; sister Sandra Pelletier of Milford, NH. Heinz Funeral Home & Cremation, Inverness.

Scanned obituary on findagrave.com, no newspaper credited:
JAMES A. BRENNER
ALEXANDRIA--James A. Brenner, 64, 1006 Indiana Ave., died August 24, 1995 at Bell Memorial Hospital after an extended illness.
.....He was born May 11, 1931, in Alexandria, and lived most of his life in Alexandria. He retired in 1990 from Delco Remy in Anderson after 41 years of employment. He was a 1949 graduate Alexandria High School. He was a retired member of UAW Local 682. He served in the Indiana National Guard for four years. He was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Alexandria.
.....Survivors include his wife of 44 years, Margaret M. (Williams) Brenner, whom he married March 31, 1951; a son and daughter-in-law, James H. and Karen Brenner of Alexandria; four daughters and three sons-in-law, Dianne Brenner of St. Stephens SC, Carol and James Durgan of Cincinnati, Ohio, Susan and Joseph Nelson of Alexandria, and Joanne and Anthony Smith of Anderson; two brothers and a sister-in-law, Donald Brenner of Anderson and Charles and Mary Brenner of Elwood; a sister and brother-in-law, Grace and Leroy Montgomery of Alexandria; and 12 grandchildren, Sarah Nelson, Jon Nelson, Shawn Nelson, James V. Brenner, Amanda Brenner, Joseph Brenner, and Anita Brenner, all of Alexandria, Jacob Smith, Christopher Smith, Jillian Smith, William Smith, and Antoinette Smith, all of Alexandria.
.....He was preceded in death by his parents, Harry and Manda (Jarrell) Brenner, and two brothers, Jack Brenner and Joseph Brenner.
.....Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Mary's Catholic Church, West Monroe Street, with the Rev. Hassinger and Robert Williams officiating. Burial will be at Park View Cemetery, Alexandria.
.....Friends may call from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Noffze Funeral Home, 501 N. Harrison St., Alexandria. The Rosary will be said at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home.
.....Memorial contributions may be made to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation through the funeral home.

Children include:
…..i…..LINDA DIANNE BRENNER, born 15 Jun 1952, died 15 Aug 2016 Muncie, Delaware, Indiana, USA. Spouse: MICHAEL ANTHONY WILSON, born 30 Jun 1962 Michigan, died 14 Mar 2010. See photo of her tombstone at findagrave.com

THE SUMMERVILLE JOURNAL SCENE
Thursday, August 25, 2016
(includes photo)
.....Linda “Dianne” Wilson, 64, of Anderson, passed away on August 15, 2016 at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, Muncie. She was born on June 15, 1952 in Elwood, raised in Alexandria, lived in Hartford City and South Carolina, and most recently in Anderson.
.....She graduated from Alexandria Monroe High School.
.....Dianne Brenner was a friendly, fun, and outgoing person. She was an avid Notre Dame fan. She supported her students’ athletic accomplishments. She also worked as a counselor and group leader at a Youth Red Cross Camp for 10 years and was part of the Red Cross Disaster Team for several years.
.....Dianne was also very stubborn and determined. When told by a high school guidance counselor that she could never handle the demands of college, she set out to prove her wrong. Dianne graduated from Ball State University with a Bachelors and a Masters Degrees in Education. She taught eight years in St. John’s the Evangelist Catholic School in Hartford City and was also principal for four of those years. The rest of her teaching career was spent at Cross Elementary School in Cross, South Carolina. Over the years she wrote and received many science grants and honors. She was voted Teacher of the Year twice at her school and once at the district level.
.....Dianne was a generous, loving, and nurturing person. She married Michael Wilson, the love of her life, who precedes her in death. She was godparent to several of her students and some of their babies as well. She helped bring food, water, clothes and supplies after Hurricane Hugo destroyed much of the area where she taught. She was an active member of Beta Sigma Phi sorority for many years.
.....Dianne is survived by her loving mother, Margaret Brenner of Alexandria, siblings, Carol (Jim) Durgan of Medina, OH, Susan (Joe) Nelson of Alexandria, Jim (Karen) Brenner of Alexandria, Joanne (Anthony) Smith of Anderson, step-daughter, Michelle (Jeremy) Wilson-Honeycutt of Greenwood, grandchildren, Lason and Jackson, several nieces and nephews.
.....She was preceded in death by her husband, Michael A. Wilson, and her father, James Brenner.
.....Visitation was held Sunday, August 21, 2016, 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm at Robert D. Loose Funeral Homes & Crematory, 200 West 53rd St. Anderson, with a Rosary Service held at 5:00 pm with Monsignor Robert Sell officiating.
.....A Mass of Christian Burial was at 11:00 am Monday, August 22, 2016, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 820 West Madison Ave. Alexandria, with Monsignor Robert Sell officiating, with visitation beginning at 10:00 am.
.....Cremation will take place, with burial in Park View Cemetery, Alexandria at a later date.
.....Memorial contributions may be made to the Pendleton Reformatory K9 Program or the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Published in Akron Beacon Journal on Apr. 7, 2018
James P. Durgan
.....James P. Durgan, 67, of Medina, passed away on Friday, April 6, 2018. He was born on May 23, 1950, to the late Harold and Alice (nee Hershburger) Durgan.
.....James worked in a printing factory, and was also an accomplished musician.
.....He truly loved spending time with his family and pets. Everyone who knew him was touched by his fabulous sense of humor.
.....James is survived by his wife of 46 years, Carol (nee Brenner); sisters, Donna (Dennis) Schultz and Susan Whipple; sisters-in-law; Susan (Joseph) Nelson, Joanne (Tony) Smith, and Karen Brenner; mother-in-law, Margaret Brenner, and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers-in-law, David Whipple and James H. Brenner; sister-in-law; Dianne Wilson; and father-in-law; James A. Brenner.
.....The family of James will receive friends on Monday, April 9, 2018 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Waite and Son Funeral Home, 765 North Court Street, Medina, 44256.
.....In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 4550 Montgomery Ave, Suite 1100 N, Bethesda, MD 2081.

.....James Harry Edward Brenner, 61 of Alexandria died Monday, November 6, 2017 at his residence after a brief illness.
.....Jim was born on May 21, 1956 and was the son of James A and Margret (Williams) Brenner. On Dec. 15, 1979 he married Karen (Parker) Brenner who survives.
.....Jim was employed 37 years at General Motors-Marion. He was a member of the Church of St. Mary’s and Tack Room University.
.....He enjoyed spending time with his children and grandchildren. He spent a great deal of time laughing; telling jokes and reminisces about the past. Jim particularly enjoyed talking through world issues at the local Johnson Farm tack room.
......Left to cherish his memory is his wife, Karen, his children, Jimmie (Danielle) Brenner, Joe Brenner, Amanda (Chris) Tucker, Anna (Earnest) Abbott, his mother Margaret Brenner, sisters, Carol (Jim) Durgan, Susan (Joe) Nelson, and Joanne (Tony) Smith. Also surviving are six grandchildren, Jessica Brenner, Mason Brenner, Bridgette Tucker, Vivian Tucker, Mac Abbott and Adrin Abbott.
.....He was preceded in death by his father, James A Brenner and a sister, Linda D. Wilson.
.....A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, Nov. 10, 2017 at 10:30 am in the Church of St. Mary’s, Alexandria. Burial will follow in Forestville Cemetery. Friends may call at Whetsel Funeral Service, Alexandria on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017 from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm and one hour prior to the service on Friday at the church.
.....In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials are made in Mass Offerings to the Church of St. Mary’s. Mass envelopes will be available at the funeral home.
.....Whetsel Funeral Service is honored to serve the family of James H. Brenner.
…..For additional obituary information and online condolences visit: www.whetselfuneralservice.com

24. RITA LOUISE WARD (JAMES MICHAEL, MICHAEL JAMES, JAMES), b. September 12, 1926 Gary, Lake, Indiana; m. BURL LOUIS LEAVELL, September 30, 1950 Elwood, Madison, Indiana. Rita died 20 Feb 1999 in Elyria, Lorain, Ohio, USA. See the Leavell history on this website for his history.

Notes for RITA LOUISE ANN WARD:
.....Rita was born with a bad cleft palate and hare lip, resulting in almost immediate surgery to enable her to drink from a bottle. When she was in kindergarten, a muscle from her leg was grafted onto her upper lip to repair the lip. She was very restless--from birth, Rita was a tomboy--so her mother put her on the front steps to get some fresh air, warning her sternly not to move or stand up. When Edna looked out the window a short time later, she was horrified to see Rita furiously pedaling her tricycle down the block, racing a little boy! Rita remembers that she wanted to prove she could beat him even with stitches in her leg.
.....Although she was to have 24 operations before she was twenty--many of the later surgeries to correct mistakes done earlier--life was not a tragedy for her. Her parents were happy together. Aunt Eunice always said Jim Ward was one of the most beautiful human beings she ever met, the sweetest man in the world. On weekends, Edna would peel potatoes while Jim made a pot roast, telling the girls he made such good gravy because he'd been the chief cook for Barnum & Bailey Circus for thirty years, and they believed it! The girls were never spanked by their parents. Jim had a quick Irish temper and was afraid he would hurt them, though the temper cooled quickly. Their only spanking came when Edna was quarantined and her best friend Vivian Lebo was watching the girls. Mary Jane, Rita, and Beverly Lebo were playing behind a Murphy bed--forbidden to them since it was dangerous if the bed should snap up or down suddenly--and they were spotted. Vivian smacked their bottoms as each came out.
.....In some ways it was an idyllic time. Rita still remembers little things, the "Straw-berries!" cry of the fruit peddlers, the way Edna stood over the heat register rubbing her hands and shivering (she was always cold), listening to the radio. Once Rita was so distressed by the plight of Little Orphan Annie, trapped on a burning bridge, that Jim turned the radio off and said she couldn't listen any more if she got that upset. She'd have nightmares. She had to beg and cry to get the radio back on. Little Orphan Annie might be optional listening, but the whole family had to sit and listen in absolute silence to Father Coughlin's weekly broadcasts from Detroit.
.....Rita's nickname from Jim was "Skinny," while Mary Jane was "Chubby." He'd chant, "Chubby, Chubby, two-by-four, can't get through the kitchen door." Ironically, Mary Jane grew to be slender, while Rita was overweight! Where Rita was a complete tomboy, Mary Jane was neat and feminine. Jim would stop on the walk as he returned from work and say sadly, "Just once I'd like to come home, Rita, and find you not hanging upside down in a tree."
.....Once Jim took them to the circus, where they shook hands with Tom Mix and petted his horse. Around 1933, he took them to the Chicago World's Fair, a big deal; they took a train there, and rode their first elevator. We have a picture he snapped of the girls in a little car ride at the fair.
.....Although they were devout Catholics, the girls went to public school for kindergarten and first grade. Times were hard, so hard that there wasn't even enough money to feed the nuns, so the Catholic schools were shut down. Rita can remember her father calling her to the window to watch a ragged family pick through their trash, looking for scraps of food. "Never forget this," he told her.
.....The family moved to Gary, IN, where Jim worked in the mill. The streets on the east side were named after states; those on the west after Presidents. First they lived on Pennsylvania, then possibly McKinley. Tom Ward was on Tyler St. then. When they moved to Glen Park, the girls attended St. Mark's School.
.....The house they rented on the east side on Pennsylvania St. had a curved back walk with moss roses, planted by Edna. When local folk got a little money, as Jimmy did, they moved to the West side. From Van Buren, the girls could cut through an empty lot and go two or three blocks to school, but Pennsylvania St. was a long walk to school, and Mary Jane always cried. They had to cross Broadway, which was a fairly busy street. Once Mary Jane fell, tore her stockings, got a bloody knee, and had to go home.
.....When Rita was pregnant with her first child, she and her sister went back to Van Buren St. to tour their house. It had a garage, attic, basement, little front porch, two bedrooms, living room, and kitchen. It was near the railroad tracks; once they found a stray dog by the tracks and lovingly picked out the many burrs and combed it, but Jim wouldn't let them keep it.
.....Edna was a fanatic about cleaning and health. She made the girls take cod liver oil every day--but she bribed them a penny to do it. Rita was very impressed the first time she saw Edna struggling to force herself to swallow it, too.
.....Mary Jane always got car-sick, a trait she passed on to her own children. One year they put on their new Easter dresses and took the trolley car to Hook's drug store in Gary to visit Paul Lebo, Vivian's husband, a pharmacist. Jim bought chocolate milk for Rita and a strawberry milkshake, her favorite, for Mary Jane. Of course, she threw up on the trolley ride home. "Don't tell your mother!" Jim warned, frantically wiping her off.
.....There was a cool basement in that house, and on hot days when he worked a bad shift (11 a.m. to 7 p.m.) Jim slept there to stay cool. On other days, the girls played house in a corner there marked off with a chalk doorway and chalk sidewalk.
.....On Sunday afternoons, they'd go for a walk to pick out a pint or quart of hand-dipped ice cream to go with leftovers for Sunday dinner, since the big meal that day had been lunch--fried chicken or pot roast with carrots and potatoes, eaten around noon, after church. For dessert at lunch, there would be cake baked on Saturday, since they kept the Sabbath pretty much work-free. Each week, the girls took turns picking out the flavor--Mary Jane ALWAYS chose strawberry. When they were older, the girls were given ice cream cones.
.....On Good Fridays, they spent three hours of silence in honor of Christ's death. To kill time one year, the girls went for a walk. Mary Jane, who had no sense of direction, got lost and began sobbing, but hard-hearted Rita piously refused to break the silence to tell her where they were. Rita always scolded her bickering children with righteous remarks like, "I never fought with my sister," but once let slip that she had hit Mary Jane over the head with a croquet mallet. When it was pointed out that this was fighting, she widened her eyes innocently and gasped, "But she was cheating!"
.....There was a big sand dune at the end of the street where they played for hours. Since they were right on the lake, the sand was pretty damp. They would dig out the shape of a car and "drive," or make pies and cakes of sand. Once they picked neighbors' tulips to decorate their "cakes" and got quite a scolding.
.....Their proud parents paid for dancing lessons. Rita liked Ruby Keeler, while Mary Jane wanted to emulate a blonde hoofer, perhaps Joan Blondell. They paid fifty cents a lesson, and Edna supervised dance practice. When they took up ballet, they were so awkward that Jim always had to leave the room, because he couldn't keep a straight face. The year their father would die, the girls rented Halloween parade costumes from their dance teacher, and Rita dressed in a Russian Cossack outfit, boots and all.
.....When Rita was kindergarten age or younger, she stood on the curb watching "big boys" of 10 to 12 playing baseball in the street. A ball hit her in the eye, giving her an immense swollen black eye, and Jim made her stay awake all night in case she had a concussion. July 2, 1984, she remembered that when an ophthalmologist asked, "When were you hit in that eye?" Her mother made her stand behind the sidewalk after that!
.....Girls then wore their hair shingled in the back, so they got haircuts at the barber shop with Jimmy. Later, after Edna died, they would get a "marcel" at a lady's home nearby--it was more-or-less done with a curling iron.
.....When Rita was in kindergarten or first grade, the family took the train to Isabelle BRADY Mattingly's funeral. The family always believed that it was on the return trip that Edna caught scarlet fever. This led to rheumatic fever that so weakened her heart that she couldn't even walk up stairs.
.....Edna was always very particular about the house and insisted that the girls eat balanced meals, so she always made Rita eat cereal, which she hated. One morning Edna didn't make Rita eat it. That afternoon, when Mary Jane and Rita came home from school, they found it quarantined. The doctor gave them shots and sent them to Mrs. Vivian Lebo, Edna's Protestant friend, while Jim roomed at a local boarding house. On Mother's Day, Rita put plants on Edna's window-sill and waved to her. Edna died May 16, 1936, age 31. Rita was eating a ball-bat sucker when she was told her mother was dead: a hard, light-colored caramel on a stick. She could never eat one after that.
.....Since the girls were so young, Mary Antonia WARD moved in with them to protect the reputation of their young white housekeeper, Ethel Roundtree. Jim jokingly called her "Ethel Roundhouse." She married Mount Vernon Johnson, also white.
.....After Edna died, the girls were given a white spitz named "Corky" after Shirley Temple's dog. Corky was sired by the Lebos’ white spitz stud, "Sugar." Jim loved animals, and his dad kept a tiny Boston Bull terrier or pug. Jimmy also bought them ducks for Easter. They named them Ducky and Wucky and kept them in the garage, but the ducks didn't live long before dying of over-eating, just long enough for a car ride on the girls' laps.
.....Rita always wanted a doll house. That Christmas, Jimmy bought a lovely one for Beverly Lebo that Rita had lusted after; it was the year she began to suspect there was no Santa Claus. Mary Jane got a Shirley Temple doll that Rita wanted, and she got a brunette doll. Vivian made doll clothes for them, and Rita also got a big radio.
.....Rita, about this time, had several unrecognized attacks of appendicitis, one the morning of her First Communion in May, 1926. Edna had chosen the girls' dresses and greatly looked forward to this day, so the family blamed Rita's tears and upset stomach on emotional stress, understandable with her mother freshly dead. Another bout came that summer, when she was at Grandma Brady's and fed pancakes, which she disliked. There were lots of people eating and going in and out. Everyone blamed it on overeating, since every time they looked up there was "another pancake in front of her." No one realized it was her first and only pancake. The final attack narrowly missed being tragic. She remembers lying in bed hearing them discuss giving her either an enema or castor oil. Not wanting either, she faked being asleep; luckily, since either might have ruptured the swollen appendix. When she awoke, she was feverish. Rita remembers seeing the doctor standing at the foot of her bed. He wrapped her in a blanket and took her to the hospital by car. The appendix was removed in the same month that the Duke of Windsor abdicated. As she improved, she would play "Hotel;" she would ring the bell, and if they weren't too busy a nurse would come and Rita would "check her in."
.....Rita came home to find that boisterous Corky had been shipped to Bloomington. She and Mary Jane and Mary Ward took the train to spend Christmas in Bloomington with the Lebos, which upset the Wards. That Christmas, at Jim's request, Vivian Lebo told them about sex, and they found out there was no Santa.
.....In the fall of 1936, the Halloween Rita was a Cossack, Jim and the girls visited Elwood. As they left, Jim told the family, "I'll be back for St. Patrick's Day"--and he was, but in his casket. Anna WARD Williams remembered he was in the kitchen, about to go pick up the girls from the Lebo home, when he put his arms around her to say goodbye; she never saw him alive again.
.....Twice before he'd gotten pneumonia, possibly from going into cold air after the heat of the steel mill. Then he and Mary Jane got the flu. He came out of the hot mill in early March, hot, sweating, without a jacket, and got chilled. Usually on Saturdays he took his girls to rollerskating lessons, but this time he was sick in bed. Disappointed, they began crying, and Jim rose from the sickbed to take them.
.....Knowing he was dying, he asked the nurses to move the oxygen tent and equipment, not wanting to scare the girls. They came to his hospital bed by the window, but weren't allowed to touch him. Jim told them he was going to Heaven to be with Mother. "Always be good girls." He died after midnight on Thursday, 16 March 1937, just ten months after Edna.
.....Anna WARD Williams said the hardest thing she ever did was go tell Papa that Jim had died. The Helmses had a phone and came early in the morning to tell Anna. Rita and Mary Jane, his daughters, were next door that evening, and Rita knew something was up. The next morning, Vivian Lebo, their mother's best friend, told the girls their father was dead. "Papa" (Michael J. Ward), according to Anna, said, "Well, what about Rita?" the first thing after learning of the death. Rita remembers giving toys away because they couldn't bring them back.
.....So popular was he that his Polish and Hungarian co-workers offered to take in his daughters. Once Dai Richardson came to the back door of the Williams home and knocked. "Are you treating Jim Ward's girls right?" he demanded. He had grown up in Elwood, best friends with Jim. He was Welsh. Anna WARD Williams told him, "Joe treats them better than he does his own." In 1984, she reminded Rita how Joe took them to Indianapolis and rode up and down on the escalator with them, something he'd never have done for his children; how he took her to the dentist to have an abscessed tooth pulled and she threw up on him all the way home (she'd eaten doughnuts for breakfast even though she was supposed to fast because of the anesthetic).
.....Jim had asked the girls whom they wished to live with, and they chose Vivian Lebo. He promised to leave instructions to that effect in his safe deposit box. His mother never admitted finding such instructions.
.....Tom Ward arranged for the sale of the house, furnishings and all, so there are no mementos of that early time. The state appointed a Gary bank the legal guardian of the girls, and a bitter wrangle broke out between the Bradys and Wards. Edna's sister Angela arranged for the girls to go to St. Joseph's Academy outside Tipton. Edna had been schooled there, and Bernard B. Brady, her father, planted the trees lining the drive. They would live with the Wheatleys on weekends. But Tess Ward refused; she didn't care much for children, but she wanted the insurance money.
.....Jim's $5,000 policy provided the girls with clothes, hospitalization, eyeglasses, etc. and after Michael Ward's death the family lived on $30 a month from that policy. Rita's big radio, a Christmas gift, was the only one in the house.
.....Mary Jane was docile, resembled the Wards, and on the surface got along with Tess, though she hated her life there; but rambunctious Rita resembled the Bradys. Michael Ward controlled his wife and was kind to the girls, but his son's death devastated him and he died a month later.
.....Because of the temporary bitterness, the girls had to sneak over to the Lebo home by pretending to visit families on the Brady side. Often, after clashes with the autocratic Tess, Rita would move in with Angela BRADY Wheatley or another relative until things cooled down.
.....The "poor little Ward girls" often spent vacations with the Bradys. They would split up, because the families were so large, and Mary Jane went to the lake with the Williamses, while Rita went to the Wheatley's. Angela, her godmother, often said that "Rita, of all my children," looked and acted the most like her. From the Wheatleys, they would walk along the railroad tracks each night to Aunt Jane ROONEY's house to pick up fresh milk from her cows. Each night, the Wheatley and Mattingly families got on their knees in a circle to say the rosary. One year, Rita broke out in measles from the Williams' kids and had to stay over.
.....Grandma Tess would buy 20 cents worth of ham for Sunday dinner for five. Often supper consisted of pancakes or French toast. For lunch, Angela made cocoa syrup to pour over hot bread. Catholic school started with Mass every morning, so they ate breakfast afterward; half the class would study religion while the other half breakfasted on peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches, without beverages.
.....Margaret Ward used to give the girls a quarter each week: a dime each for a movie, and five cents for school paper.
.....Corky, still a puppy when Jimmy Ward died, was promptly thrown outside. It was a shock for the high-strung pedigreed dog; he went wild and began snapping at kids. For this, he was banished to the Mattingly farm that summer. Unfortunately, one warm day Corky swam in the water trough, then laid in the sunny wheat field for a nap. The combine ran over him, chopping off two legs, and Corky had to be shot. Every time the girls came to visit, they were told Corky was off chasing rabbits or hunting with another dog, until finally someone broke the news to them.
.....Margaret Ward bought a light blue taffeta formal with elastic sleeves and a cameo at the throat for Rita's first formal in 1941, costing either $3.98 or $4.98.
.....Sis Williams, Tom Williams, and Rita used to hike to the cemetery along Duck Crick, lugging peanut butter sandwiches and yelling at the younger kids to make sure they didn't drown.
.....Daddy Joe always sat in his chair listening to baseball and the Lone Ranger on the radio; later he watched them on T.V. Mary Jane and Rita would come downstairs in the latest wild high school outfit, and he would silently shake his head.
.....Bob Wheatley used to tease Rita with worms, which she hated. She stood on a toilet screaming as he shoved worms under the door! Other times, he waved crawdads in her face.
.....One May, the nuns urged the kids to bring in flowers for the Virgin Mary. Tom Williams and Bob Wheatley filled a wagon with flowers from the cemetery to put at the feet of a statue of Mary, explaining, "Nobody wanted 'em. We found 'em." The nuns sternly sent them back.
.....The summer of her Junior year, Rita went to live with Tom and Ann (Kserich) Ward so she could undergo plastic surgery sessions in Chicago. During one operation at Mercy Hospital there, as she was waiting for the topical anesthetic to take effect, Rita had a severe reaction to the cocaine. She had trouble breathing, and got help by holding up her hands, which had hardened into rigid claws. The doctor gave her a shot, wheeled her back to her room, and ordered oxygen and a 24-hour private duty nurse. He also sent for a priest to give her the last rites. They kept telling her to keep breathing, when all she wanted was for them to leave her alone. Years later, people in the hospital still remembered her as the one with the severe reaction on the operating table. By the 1980's, doctors had a hard time believing her when she reported an allergy to cocaine, because it was no longer used in hospitals and was thought of solely as an illegal street drug. After suggesting she must mean Novocaine, or Procaninol, they'd shrug and say, "We'll just have to keep the pushers away." It really used to irritate her!
.....When Mary Jane was a senior, Rita returned to Wendell Wilkie High in Elwood for one year and graduated with her. Still just 19, Rita was third in her class and made the National Honor Society (despite a KKK teacher who tried to make her either eat meat during Lent or be failed for refusing to do so!).
.....Rita married Burl Louis LEAVELL on 30 September 1950, and they moved to Anderson, Indiana; then to Syracuse, New York; Sterling Heights, Warren, Michigan; finally to Elyria, Lorain County, Ohio in 1967, where she died in February of 1999. See the Leavell genealogy pages on this website.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION (1929-1940)
Francetta Smith
.....I interviewed a lady named Rita (Ward) Leavell. She is the mother of Green Acres tutor Miss J. Leavell. She came from an Irish Catholic family in Elwood, Indiana. It was a tiny town. It had a “boom” around 1900-1910. It was very racist. No blacks were allowed be seen staying there overnight. There was only one Jewish family. Ku Klux Klan was well known to march down the main street and burn crosses on the lawns of the Catholics.
.....She was born with a hare lip and cleft palate. When she was nine her mother died of scarlet fever and when she 10 her father died of pneumonia which means she became an orphan but she still lived with the family. She had 20 opperations before she was 21 and some of them were so new that she was written up in medical books. On one of the last operations she found out she was allergic to cocaine when they used it as an anesthetic on her lip.
.....Rita's mother was a “flapper.” She wore “short” skirts and won Charleston dance contests with her brother Harold. She went to a business college (unheard of for women).
.....People had fun in many different ways. For instance, Jazz was the music people listened to in those days. They were played in big bands, which didn't play guitars. They played trombones, trumpets, piano, drums, clarinets, and saxophones. The big band she liked was Jack Teagarden. Some of his sons were Basin Street Blues, Boogie Woogie, and China Boy.
.....Another thing they did for fun was going to town on Saturday nights, playing marbles and Chinese checkers, hide-go-seek. The other types of fun include Rudolph Valentino silent movies shown in Tipton, a nearby town at a theater owned by her grandfather Bernard Brady. It was next door to a bordello.
.....There was no television, but there was radio. Rita liked to listen to “Little Orphan Annie” on the radio and watch Gene Autry, the singing cowboy, in “Phantom Ranch,” a serial at the movies. When Rita had appendicitis, she made her father watch and tell her about what had happened each week while she was in the hospital.
.....Some of the books she enjoyed were Gone With the Wind and Anne of Green Gables.
.....Rita went to Catholic church every Sunday and she prayed the rosary on her knees once a week. Church lasted about 2-3 hours.
.....Some of Rita's worst times were when there was no money and times were hard. You had to make your own clothes. If you didn't make them you wore hand-me-downs. There were no jobs available and there was no welfare, no Unemployment, and no ADC and no Social Security. Franklin D. Roosevelt started the Works Progress Administration to give people jobs but folks called it “We Piddle Along.”: WPA did stuff like dig ditches, organize county records, do county histories, make roads. The money they earned kept people alive.
.....She remembers her father telling her to look out the window, and as she looked she saw people digging in their garbage cans outside her house, eating their garbage to survive. That was one of the worst things she ever saw. She promised herself she would do better than that.
.....(Some types of clothes that were worn.) No panyhose or even regular socks. It was horrible. They had to wear brown stockings, thick, thigh-high, with a rubber band to hold them up. There were also knee length white underpants (boys wore long johns). They also wore undershirts. Girls wore dresses. No pants. Boys wore pants and ties to school and to church.
.....Some people that influenced her was her teachers. She enjoyed school. Some of her favorite classes were History. She loved history. English was another of her favorites. She disliked math and science. She studied them at Wendell L. Wilkie High, named after a loser. He ran for Preident, but FDR won. The school was located 10 long roads away from her house, where they was no bus transportation. She walked each morning. Even when she turned eighteen, she was not considered as an adult, until she was the age of 21. That's when you could vote. When she turned 21 a crippled WWII vet ran for a political job on a reform ticket. That means the other guy was crooed and he was going to fix things. She voted for him. He turned out to be so crooked he was kicked out of office!
In My Opinion
.....I learned a lot from Rita! I wouldn't have wanted to be there in the times of the Depression. It really shows that times do change over the years. For example music, books, clothes, and more. I think that the children of the world today have it a lot easier than they did in those days.
…..I really enjoyed doing this kind of a report, and you should consider doing them more often.

Name: James Edward Green
Service Info.: CPL US ARMY KOREA
Birth Date: 21 Jun 1928
Death Date: 21 Mar 1998
Cemetery: St Joseph Cemetery
Cemetery Address: Elwood, IN 46036

Elwood Call-Leader (March 21, 1998)
James E. Green
.....James Edward Green, 69, 1421 S. H St., died at 5:25 p.m. Saturday at St. Vincent Mercy Hospital.
.....Born June 21, 1928, in Elwood, he was the son of John and Alta Heflin Green. He was married July 3, 1948 to Mary Jane Ward. She survives.
.....He retired from Guide Lamp in 1985 and had worked as a mechanic. He was a graduate of Elwood High School in 1946 and was a veteran of the United States Army. He also was a member of the East Main Street Christian church. His other memberships included the United Auto Workers 663 and a life membership in the Elwood Elk's Lodge 368.
.....Others surviving are one daughter Joanne Amick of Frankton; two sons, Michael Green and Patrick Green of Elwood; one sister, Judith Ann Holt of Carmel; two brothers, John Richard Green of Long Beach, Calif., and Dan Green of Elwood; and four grandchildren.
.....Services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Copher & Fesler Funeral Home with Father Kenneth Raczek officiating. Burial will be in St. Joseph's Cemetery.
.....Friends may call from 2 to 5 and 6 to 8 Tuesday at the funeral home. Elk's memorial services are at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
.....Memorial contributions may be made to Riley Hospital for Children, Telethon Office, 702 Bamhill Drive, Indianapolis, Ind. 46202.

From Joanne Green Amick:
.....I drove mom to the Tipton cemetery on Wednesday, October 1, 2014, a beautiful fall evening. She hadn't been there to visit her parents' graves in years. She maneuvered her motorized scooter about 10 feet from the back of the wheelchair van to her parents' headstones. Mom asked me to pull a few stray weeds around the grave markers, and even had me re-position her mother's headstone because it was crooked by about an inch...most likely bumped by a lawnmower. As I stood there with mom, she began to reminisce and tell stories about her parents that I had never heard before. She said that her mother, Edna (Brady) Ward was ill for quite some time. She developed a bad heart from contracting scarlet fever years before (she had scarlet fever when mom was three and was considered a semi-invalid for four years). Mom was only seven years old and her sister, Rita, was nine when Edna was hospitalized for just one night at Mercy Hospital in Gary, Indiana. Mom and Rita were not allowed to visit their mother in the hospital because they were too young. That evening, their daddy came home from the hospital and sat both of the girls down. He told them that their mother had died and they would never see her again, except in heaven. He told them to be good girls too. Mom proudly told me that she always was a good girl because of her father's request. Innocently, mom asked her daddy if he would ever get married again. Mom always felt guilty for asking him that. Mom remembered seeing her 31 year old mother lying in the casket at the funeral home, and she told her daddy that she wanted to see if her mom was wearing shoes. Somebody managed to open the lower half of the casket to reveal, to mom's relief, that Edna was wearing shoes.
.....Less than a year later, in the spring of 1937, their daddy became ill with pneumonia. He had worked in the steel mills of Gary for years, which likely had a negative effect on his lungs. Sadly, her father, James Ward, died at age 32 that spring after his third round of pneumonia. Mom told me that penicillin was discovered in 1937 but not soon enough to help her daddy. Prior to his death, James wrote a letter to Edna's parents telling them how absolutely wonderful their daughter was and how good of a mother and wife she was. He thanked them for raising such a great daughter. Mom still has that hand written letter.
.....While living in Gary, Mom remembers the city celebrating its 25th anniversary. They lived in a rented house that had a basement, a furnace and a wash tub. Mom and Rita's Aunt, a nun named Sister Mary, came to live with them after Edna died. Then after their daddy passed away, they moved from their home in Gary to Elwood to live with their Grandma Ward at 13th and South G Street (the same house their father was born in) where there was no furnace and no bathroom. Rita soon discovered that she could not get along with Grandma Ward, so she moved in with their Aunt Angela (Brady) Wheately who was a much more patient woman!

http://www.copherfeslermay.com/home/index.cfm?action=public%3Aobituaries.view&o_id=3630684&fh_id=13023
Mary Jane Green
Born: November 05, 1928
Died: March 15, 2016
.....Mary Jane Green, age 87 - a longtime resident of Elwood, passed away peacefully on March 15, 2016 at Community Parkview Care Center in Elwood surrounded by her family following a relatively brief illness. She was born November 5, 1928 in Gary, the daughter of James Michael and Edna M. (Brady) Ward. She attended St. Joseph School and was later a 1946 graduate of Elwood High School. Mary Jane married her high school sweetheart, James Edward Green, on July 3, 1948, and they shared 49 years of marriage together. She was a homemaker all of her life and a devoted member of the St. Joseph Catholic Church. She was a charter member of the Saint Monica Study Club; a member of the Altar and Rosary Society; a member of the National Council of Catholic Women; treasurer of the Alumni Association for the Class of 1946; and a dedicated volunteer at St. Vincent Mercy Hospital beginning in 1972. Mary Jane was very proud of her Irish heritage. She enjoyed playing Bridge, and was active in a community Bridge Card Club. She also enjoyed reading and listening to music. She will especially be remembered as a loving wife, mother, and grandmother and as an outstanding role model.
.....Her family includes 2 sons, Michael (wife Joyce) Green of Elwood and Patrick (wife Angela) Green of Elwood; daughter, Joanne (husband Rob) Amick of Frankton; 5 grandchildren, Andrea (husband Brian) Ballinger, Brian Green, Miranda Green, Alex Amick, and Evan Amick; 2 step-grandchildren, Andrew Walling and Chad (wife Joanna) Walling; and numerous nieces and nephews.
.....She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, James E. Green who died March 21, 1998; and her sister Rita L. Leavell in 1999.
.....A funeral mass celebrating Mary Jane’s life will be conducted at 10:00 AM on Saturday, March 19, 2016 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elwood with Father Dan Duff officiating. Burial will follow in St. Joseph Cemetery in Elwood. Visitation for family and friends will be held from 2 to 8 PM on Friday, March 18, 2016 at Copher-Fesler-May Funeral Home in Elwood, and will include a Rosary Service at 7:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to the St. Joseph Church Building Fund; Elwood Animal Shelter; or Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation all through the funeral home. Online condolences may be made at copherfeslermay.com.

SERVICES
Visitation
Friday, March 18, 2016
2:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Copher - Fesler - May Funeral Home
415 South Anderson Street
Elwood, Indiana 46036

Funeral Service
Saturday, March 19, 2016
10:00 AM
St. Joseph Catholic Church
1312 South A Street
Elwood, Indiana 46036

Visit the list of Burl Leavell's families.
Visit my index page for links to more genealogical sites on the Internet.

Copyright © 1999 - 2022, Jane A. Leavell. All rights reserved.

1. JAMES WARD was born Abt. 1845 in County Donegal, Ireland, and died January 11, 1893 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He married ANNA WARD. She was born May 12, 1838 in County Clare, Ireland.

Notes for JAMES WARD:
JAMES WARD was born ca. 1845 in County Donegal, Ireland. Family legend says he was called up for the Civil War but not drafted because he had babies to support. He may have had a brother who died in Michigan.

He seems to have landed in Baltimore, Maryland, where he met and married Anna WARD of County Clare, Ireland. She was born 12 May 1838.

The 1860 Census for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, lists James as a day laborer with no land but $30 personal property, 24, born in Ireland. Anne is 25, born Ireland, and Ellen is 1, born PA. By 1870, Ann is 33 (she seems to have knocked two years off her life here; ah, vanity!) and keeps house, her parents are foreign, and she isn't a citizen. James is 36, a day laborer, parents foreign, can't read or write but is a citizen, so he must have been naturalized before this census. (Naturalization papers from Pittsburgh or Baltimore might be able to give us his birthplace.) Ellen, now 11, is the only one at school. Michael, Mary, and Sarah, all born in PA, are at home.

James Ward, a day laborer, is listed as living on Maria Street near Magee as far back as 1877-78. In 1877 they were on "Marci and Magee" Street.

Family legend says James was an iron mill worker who had a stroke and couldn't work when he fainted in the hot Pittsburgh mill and someone threw cold water on him, whereupon his 12-to-14-year-old son went to work in the glass factory to support the family.

The Pittsburgh Gazette for January 13, 1893, has:
DIED--Ward, on Wednesday Janury 11, 1893, at 5:15 p.m. James Ward, aged 54 years. Funeral from his late residence, No. 1 Maria St. at 8:30 o'clock today. Services at St. Paul's Cathedral at 9 o'clock. Friends of the family are respectfully invited to attend.

James was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in Pittsburgh on 13 January 1893, and removed to Calvary Cemetery on 3 February 1894. The 1893 Pittsburgh Directory lists Michael J. Ward and Annie Ward, widow of Jas. Ward, as living at 1 Maria. They are not there in the 1894 Director. Frank McTighe, brass finisher, is also listed at 1 Maria in 1893.

In the 1900 Pittsburgh Census, Annie WARD, 59, born June 1841 in Ireland, lived at a rented home at 626 Thompson Avenue, ward 31. She immigrated in 1855 and has been in America 45 years, the mother of seven children, six still living. With her are Margaret SCHERER, 24, born March 1876 PA, one child dead; and John SCHERER, 26, born September 1883 to German father and Pennsylvanian mother, married 3 years, driver, unemployed two months that year.

Anna Ward was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Lot #176, Section D, on 13 July 1903. Michael, her son, may have been working for MacBeth-Evans glass factory at this time. The Pittsburgh Gazette for June 10, 1903, has:
DIED--On Tuesday June 9, 1903 at 10:35 p.m. Ann Ward, wife of John Ward, in her 62nd year. Funeral from the family residence No. 3407 Carson St. south side on Friday at 2 p.m. Friends and family are respectfully invited to attend.

Children of JAMES WARD and ANNA WARD are:
2.....i.....ELLEN WARD, b. March 1860, Pennsylvania.
3.....ii.....MICHAEL JAMES WARD, b. April 01, 1863, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; d. April 16, 1937.
4.....iii.....MARY WARD, b. May 05, 1866.
5.....iv.....SARAH WARD, b. August 17, 1868, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; d. Abt. 1960.
6.....v.....JOANNA WARD, b. December 29, 1871, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; d. February 18, 1927, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California.
7.....vi.....MARGARET WARD, b. March 1876, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; d. January 27, 1917.

2. ELLEN WARD (JAMES) was born March 1860 in Pennsylvania. She married MICHAEL MCCLAFFERTY. He was born in County Donegal, Ireland abt 1855 and d. 13 Apr 1909.

Notes for ELLEN WARD:
Michael resided at 2233 Webster Ave. in the 1889 and 1897 directories, 15 Glosser Ave. in 1898, 11 Glosser in 1900. His business was done at home. The 1900 Census says he immigrated in 1873 and was not a citizen. Ellen was listed as mother of 8, five still living. Michael died 13 April 1909 and was buried in Calvary Cemetery. Ellen died at St. Joseph's Hospital on 28 March 1916 of peritonitis at 6:15 a.m. She was listed as housekeeper and widow, 55 years 11 months 29 days old, living at 1415 Vickroy St., born 29 November 1860.

Children of ELLEN WARD and MICHAEL MCCLAFFERTY are:
.....i.....MARTHA MCCLAFFERTY, b. 7 September 1883, Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; died there 22 Apr 1912. She was a candypacker in 1900. She married Bernard A. Aner 8 Aug 1905 in Allegheny County. Their marriage certificate says he was born in Pittsburgh on January 26, 1884. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania County Marriages, 1852-1973; County: Allegheny; Year Range: 1905; Roll Number: 549855. She died of shock following wood alcohol poisoning “Probably taken my mistake” per death certificate. Informant: Ellen McClafferty. Burial: Calvary Cemetery. Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Pennsylvania, USA; Certificate Number Range: 042421-046290

.....ii.....JAMES MCCLAFFERTY, b. September 1884, Pennsylvania. James was a rolling mill laborer who couldn't read or write in 1900.

.....iii.....MARY MCCLAFFERTY, b. November 1886, Pennsylvania.
.....iv.....ANNIE MCCLAFFERTY, b. May 1889, Pennsylvania.
8.....v.....WILLIAM THOMAS MCCLAFFERTY, b. 2 December 1896 Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA; d. there 26 Apr 1970, married VIOLA MILDRED JAQUAY in Brooke County, West Virginia on 23 Jun 1919. He was a World War I and II veteran.

3. MICHAEL JAMES WARD (JAMES) was born April 01, 1863 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and died April 16, 1937. He married BRIDGET TERESA ROONEY July 09, 1895 in Elwood, Madison County, Indiana, daughter of WILLIAM ROONEY and BRIDGET GINTY. She was born August 07, 1869, and died January 29, 1951. Both are buried in St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery, Elwood, Madison, Indiana, USA.

Notes for MICHAEL JAMES WARD:
ELWOOD DAILY PRESS (Vol. 3, No. 893, Tuesday July 9 1898, p. 8, two cents):

.....Mike was a union man who went where the union sent him, small but nice. Like most of the Wards, he had brown hair and fair skin.

.....He went to Elwood, Madison Co., Indiana, with Macbeth-Evans, and was there married to Bridget Teresa ROONEY (see the Rooney genealogy on this website for ancestry), known as "Tess," in St. Joseph's Church, by Rev. B. Biegel, on 9 July 1895. Accounts of the wedding include:

Mr. and Mrs. Mike Ward were tendered a reception on Tuesday evening at the clubrooms by their relatives and friends. It was one of the most enjoyable affairs of the kind ever held in Elwood. Elegant refreshments were served, after which dancing was indulged in until a late hour.

Elwood, Ind. July 12--On Tuesday morning at 9 o'clock at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, there occurred the marriage of Mr. Michael Ward and Miss Theresa Rooney the accomplished daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Rooney. Mr. Ward is one of our best young men. They will take a trip through the East, after which they will return to this city and make their future home.

GRAND RECEPTION
Given Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ward Upon Their Return Home From the East
.....An account of the marriage of Michael Ward and Miss Teresa Rooney a few days ago was given in the PRESS. After the nuptial knot was tied the newly married couple enjoyed a grand honeymoon trip through the East. They returned yesterday and last night a magnificant reception was given in their honor in the rooms of the Willkie block formerly occupied by the Elwood club. Refreshments were served in an "up to date" manner after which the merry guests tripped the light fantastic until early morn. It is said that a crowd of 100 was in attendence and all express a very enjoyable time.

ELWOOD DAILY PRESS (Vol. 3, No. 893, Tuesday July 9 1898, p. 8, two cents):

WARD-ROONEY NUPTIALS
At the St. Joseph's Church, Michael Ward and Miss Theresa Rooney were united in marriage at 8 o'clock this forenoon, Rev. Father Biegle officiating. The contracting parties are both very well known to this city and have perfected arrangements to reside here. Mr. Ward is one of the leading employees at Macbeth's.

A GRAND RECEPTION
.....Mr. and Mrs. Mike Ward, who have returned from their bridal tour through the east, were accorded a grand reception last night by their relatives and friends.
.....The affair was held in the old club rooms in the Willkie block and was one of the most enjoyable of its kind ever given in Elwood.
.....Mrs. Thomas Flannigan was the one who planned the affair and right well was it executed.
.....Mike was the victim of the evening and was made to ride the horse in great shape, and do other funny deeds for the amusement of his friends.
.....Elegant refreshments were served, after which the floor was cleared and the 120 guests present spent the rest of the evening dancing.
.....Those present from abroad were May Gillespie and Eliza Dunn, of Kokomo, and Anna and Julia Carmody, of Anderson.

Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Elwood Ward 3, Madison, Indiana; Roll: T624_365; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 0123; Image: 295; FHL Number: 1374378.
Michael J Ward ...40...PA, PA, PA...blower, bottle house...
Teresa Ward ...37...IN, Ireland, Ireland
Anna M Ward ...14...IN, PA, IN
William E Ward...11...IN, PA, IN
Margaret L Ward...8...IN, PA, IN
James M Ward ...6...IN, PA, IN
Thomas J Ward ...3...OH, PA, IN

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Elwood Ward 3, Madison, Indiana; Roll: T625_449; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 140; Image: 564. January 6, 1920
Michael J Ward ...45...PA, Ireland, Ireland...glassworker
Teresa Ward ...44...IN, Ireland, Ireland...
Anna M Ward...23...IN, PA, IN...stenographer, canning factory
Edward W Ward...20...IN, PA, IN...canning factory
Margert Ward...16...IN, PA, IN...
James M Ward...16...IN, PA, IN...
Thomas B Ward...13...IN, PA, IN...
Mary M Ward...4 4/12...IN, PA, IN...

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Elwood, Madison, Indiana; Roll: 606; Page: 16B; Enumeration District: 52; Image: 33.0.
Mickel J Ward ...60...PA, Ireland, Ireland...blower, plate glass...$3000
Tresa Ward ...52...IN, IN, IN
Edward W Ward...28...IN, PA, IN...salesman, furniture store
Thomas B Ward...22...IN, PA, IN...nailer, box factory
Mary T Ward ...16...IN, PA, IN...
Margarete Ward...27...IN, PA, IN...book keeper, fruit store

.....The Elwood Call-Leader (Vol. XXXXVII, No. 91, 3 cents a copy) for Friday, April 16, 1937, reported:

MICHAEL WARD EXPIRES TODAY
Retired Glass Worker Dies at Home At
1223 South G Street This Morning .....Michael Joseph Ward, 74, died at his home at 1223 South G street at 10:45 o'clock this morning, of the infirmities of age and complications.
.....The son of James and Anna Ward, he was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 1, 1863. On July 9, 1893, he was united in marriage to Teresa Rooney.
.....Mr. Ward was a retired glass worker. He was a member of St. Joseph's Church and was affiliated with the Holy Name Society, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Order of Foresters, and the Flint Glass Workers Union.
.....Surviving besides the widow are five children, Mrs. Joseph Williams, Elwood; Mary, at home; Edward, Marion; Margaret, Anderson; and Thomas, Gary. There are six grandchildren.
.....The body was removed to the York Memorial Chapel to be prepared for burial.
.....Funeral services will be conducted at the St. Joseph's Church Monday at 9 o'clock with the pastor, Father Nicholas C. Huemmer, in charge. Burial will be made in the Catholic cemetery.

Notes for BRIDGET TERESA ROONEY:
.....Tess was very handsome and aristocratic in bearing. She was fond of jewelry; had long, lovely hands; and used to lie about her age, even though her twin's tombstone indicated a date some years earlier!
.....She raised her orphaned grand-daughters, Rita and Mary Jane Ward, but was harsh and often threw Rita out for weeks at a time. She told both little girls that she had more respect for her son Ed's little finger than for their entire bodies. She wanted them for the room and board, although their aunts and uncles begged for the chance to adopt them. Rita would move in with one when she was evicted; one of her cousins told me she was a teenager before she realized Rita wasn't just another one of her siblings!

Obituary from the Elwood Call-Leader
Elwood, Madison Co., IN
29 Jan 1951, page 8
TERESA WARD, 77,
DIES EARLY TODAY;
FUNERAL WEDNESDAY
.....Mrs. Teresa Ward, 77, 1223 South G street, died at her home at 1:30 o'clock this morning of complications following several years illness. Born Aug. 7, 1873 in Remington, she was the daughter of William and Bridget Ginty Rooney. She was married July 9, 1895 to Michael J. Ward. He is deceased. Mrs. Ward was a member of St. Joseph's church and of the Rosary Socety. Mrs. Ward had lived in Elwood for 65 years.
..... Survivors include three daughters, Mrs J.L. Williams of Elwood, Miss Mary Ward, at home, and Miss Margaret Ward of Anderson; two sons, Edward Ward, at home, and Thomas Ward of Gary; a sister, Miss Jane Rooney, and a brother, Joseph Rooney, both of Elwood. She has eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
..... The body is at the York Memorial Home where friends may call after six o'clock tonight. Funeral services will be held Wednesday morning at 9 o'clock at St. Joseph's church. Rev. T.J. Hammes, pastor, will officiate. Burial will be made in the Elwood City cemetery.

Children of MICHAEL WARD and BRIDGET ROONEY are:
9.....i.....ANNA MARIE WARD, b. July 06, 1896, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; d. December 09, 1992, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana.
.....ii.....WILLIAM EDWARD WARD, b. June 29, 1899, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; d. May 05, 1983, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; m. DOROTHY SHORT.

Notes for WILLIAM EDWARD WARD:
He served time in the U.S. Army during WWII and worked at Delco Remy's. One summer he worked from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the blacksmith shop of Tom Shanklin on 16th St., for 25 cents a day keeping flies off horses with a horse tail fastened to a broomhandle. He was paid every evening. When school began again, the nuns asked how he spent that summer, and he said, "Shooing flies." When everyone laughed, Ed got mad and wouldn't come back to school for a couple of weeks! Ed was six feet tall, as were his brothers, though he admitted Tom was "a nickel's worth taller." He claimed Tom got very upset when his hair turned grey--early greying is a Ward trademark. Ed used to chuckle about the time the barber thought Tom was much older than he. In 1925, Ed went to California; it took him 28 days and covered 28 states, he says. Ed allegedly used to steal catsup from Tom Ward's boarder, Hilda Redmond, who handmade it and stored it in Tom's basement. Ed was confirmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma when he and Papa were working there. Tom used to say of Ed, "His belly is his God." He used to cook while his sister Mary mowed the lawn! Ed married Dorothy Short, who was a nurse for 38 years. She was Clinical Coordinator of the Surgical Wing of Mercy Hospital in Elwood when she retired, and the family still turned to her for medical advice. She and Ed traveled to Ireland together.

.....iii.....MARGARET T. WARD, b. March 03, 1902, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; d. August 1992, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana. Margaret was for many years head book-keeper for Leeson's Department Store there. She was single.

Obituary from the Elwood Call-Leader, Elwood, Madison Co., IN, 24 Aug 1992, page 2
MARGARET T. WARD
.....Margaret T. Ward,90, 1333 S. H St., died Sunday at Parkview Convalescent Center after an extended illness.
….. She was born March 3, 1902, in Elwood, and was the daughter of Michael and Theresa (Rooney) Ward.
…..She retired from R.L. Leeson Department Store and was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, the Rosary Society, and the National Council of Catholic Women.
….. Survivors include two sisters, Anna Williams of Elwood and Sister Mary Antonia of Pittsburgh,, Penn,; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by three brothers, James Ward, Ed Ward and Thomas Ward.
…..Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the St. Joseph Catholic Church with Father Kenneth C. Raczek officiating. Burial will follow in the St. Joseph Cemetery. Friends may call from 3 to 8 p.m. today at the Copher & Fesler Funeral Home.

vi.....MARY WARD, b. August, 1916; died 22 May 2011 Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Mary was a Roman Catholic nun.

Published in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on May 24, 2011
WARD SISTER MARY ANTONIA, SC
Sister Mary Antonia Ward, SC, age 95, died at Caritas Christi, the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in Greensburg, on May 21, 2011. A native of Elwood, Indiana, Sister Mary Antonia entered the congregation of the Sisters of Charity from Saint Joseph Parish, Elwood, Indiana on July 1, 1952. She was preceded in death by parents Michael J. and Theresa (Rooney) Ward, three brothers, James M., Thomas J., Edward W. and two sisters, Margaret Ward and Mrs. Anna (J.L.) Williams and she is survived by nieces and nephews. Sister Mary Antonia taught in schools of the Altoona- Johnstown, Greensburg, Pittsburgh and Tucson dioceses and in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Later, Sister Mary Antonia began home visiting the frail and elderly parishioners of Holy Innocents Parish in Sheraden until 1994, when failing health forced her to retire. Always gracious and serene, Sister Mary Antonia, along with Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, believed "The affliction of this life is but a moment, while the glory in the life to come will be eternal." Friends received Monday and Tuesday, 1:00-7:00 p.m. in Caritas Christi, 129 DePaul Center Road Greensburg, PA. Funeral Mass Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. Chapel of the Assumption, Caritas Christi. Interment Sisters' Cemetery, Seton Hill Greensburg, PA. Memorial contributions may be made to the Sisters of Charity, De Paul Center, 144 DePaul Center Road, Greensburg, PA 15601. For more information visit the website, www.scsh.org.
Send condolences at post-gazette.com/gb

Notes for MARY WARD:
baptized 1 July 1877 at Sacred Heart Church in Pittsburgh, PA. She married Bernard Haas, a boxcutter, 9 June 1886 at St. Paul's Church. He was born January 1857 to German parents (Michael Haas and Mary Keller; the Haas family was from Baden-Baden) in Pennsylvania, and lived for many years in a mortgaged home at 529 North St. Clair in the 19th ward of Pittsburgh. Bernard had a big black handlebar mustache and came from Germany. Their daughters worked as milliners.
.....Mayme knew some real estate. They bought a small farm for recreation but struck oil, at least one gusher, there. Mrs. Fiore, a friend of Mayme's sister Margaret, remembers her as "a mean-looking woman." Once while she was visiting, she heard Margaret Ward Scherer moan, "Oh, my God, here she comes again." It was Mayme, whose visits always left Maggie in tears; no one knows what she said to Maggie then. After her sister's death, Mayme took the boys on weekends but fed them gruel and heavy doses of molasses and "crude oil"! The Scherer boys remembered her as something out of a Dickens novel. Bernard said, "She was hard on us boys." In 1923, the directory lists the Haas family at 216 Amber St. Bernard Scherer believed that after striking oil, they moved to Block St. and "used to drive around in a big car to show off in the neighborhood." The money didn't last long; "They burned it up as fast as they earned it."
.....While living at 1172 Jancey St., Bernard Haas died of heart failure 6 October 1937; Mary was buried beside him at Mt. Carmel Cemetery 6 March 1941. Most burials there are from Help of Christians Church.
.....During the flu epidemic of World War I, young Anna Ward of Elwood left Elwood at 2:00, arriving at Pittsburgh 6 p.m. the next day; there was a long wait for wartime trains. She found one daughter in her coffin and the other upstairs dying. Sadie WARD Gretz said there was too much death and sadness in that house and Anna must go home, so Henry Woistman reserved a Pullman berth for her and sent her home. It was the first time Anna saw a "motorized" (non-horse-drawn) funeral.

Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 19, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T623_1361; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 219.
Bernard Haas...43...Jan 1857...PA, Germany, Germany...married 14 years...paper box
Martha Haas...33...May 1867...PA, Ireland, Ireland...3 children, 3 living
Anna L Haas...13...Apr 1887...PA, PA, PA
Sarah Eliza Haas...10...Oct 1889...PA, PA, PA
Marie S Haas...7...Feb 1893...PA, PA, PA

Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 11, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1302; Page: 16A; Enumeration District: 0422; Image: 1156; FHL Number: 1375315.
Bernard Hass...52...OH, PA, PA...married 23 years...laborer, day jobs
Mary Hass...42...OH, OH, OH
Sara Hass...19...OH, OH, OH...clerk, drygoods
Marie Hass...17...OH, OH, OH...apprentice milliner
Bernard Hass...9...OH, OH, OH

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 11, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1518; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 487; Image: 741.
Bernard Haas...62...PA, Hesse, Hesse...laborer, bakery company
Mary A Haas...51...PA, Ireland, Ireland
Bernard Haas...19...PA, PA, PA...son...laborer, bakery company
Stewart Harper...33...OH, Hesse, Hesse...lodger...salesman, piano company
Cora Harper...31...OH, OH, Hesse
Sarah Friday...50...PA, Ireland, Ireland...lodger

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1974; Page: 20A; Enumeration District: 159; Image: 197.0.
Bernard Haas...72...PA, Germany, Germany...married at 28
Mary A Haas...60...PA, North Ireland, North Ireland...married at 17
Bernard Haas...29...PA, PA, PA...single...laborer, auto company

More About MARY WARD: Burial: March 06, 1941, Mt. Carmel Cemetery
More About BERNARD HAAS: Burial: Mt. Carmel Cemetery

Children of MARY WARD and BERNARD HAAS are:
12.....i.....ANNA LEONA HAAS, b. April 29,1887; d. 16 June 1938.
.....ii.....SARAH ELIZABETH HAAS, b. 28 October 1889, died of influenza in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA on October 28, 1918. Bernard W. Haas was the informant on her death certificate, which gave these dates and described her as a single white milliner. She died of pneumonia following influenza. It said she would be buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery on October 31, 1918. Her parents were given as Bernard Haas and Mary Ward, both of Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Pennsylvania, USA; Certificate Number Range: 104501-107750
.....iii.....MARIA SUZANNE HAAS, b. 18 February 1893, died of influenza in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA on October 31, 1918.
13.....iv.....BERNARD WARD HAAS, b. December 08, 1900.

5. SARAH WARD (JAMES) was born August 17, 1868 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and died Abt. 1960. She married JOHN M. GRETZ March 01, 1891 in St. Paul's Church, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He was born April 05, 1868 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Notes for SARAH WARD:
Sadie married John M. Gretz, glassblower, 1 March 1891 at St. Paul's Church in Pittsburgh. John was born 5 April 1868 in Pittsburgh to German parents, and lived in the 26th Ward there. John Gretz died age 41 and Sadie died in 1960; both were buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Marion, Grant Co., IN. In the 1900 Census they were in a rented house on East 38th St. Centre Twp. Grant Co.

More About SARAH WARD: Burial: I.O.O.F. Cemetery, Marion, Grant County, Indiana.

Children of SARAH WARD and JOHN GRETZ are:
.....i.....ANNA GRETZ.
.....ii.....WILLIAM GRETZ, b. January 1895, Indiana.
14.....iii.....PAUL A. GRETZ, b. March 1897; d. January 28, 1982.
.....iv.....LEO E. GRETZ, b. May 1900, Indiana; d. August 1978; m. LAVONNE SHAFFTER.
.....v.....FRANCIS GRETZ, b. Abt. 1902. Francis moved to Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana.

.....vi.....MARY GRETZ, b. Abt. 1904; m. ? WEST. Divorced, moved to Bedford, IN.

6. JOANNA WARD (JAMES) was born December 29, 1871 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and died February 18, 1927 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California. She married FRANK MCTIGHE April 06, 1893 in St. Paul's Church, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He was born March 04, 1872 in Allegheny City, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and died November 26, 1940 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California.

Notes for JOANNA WARD:
She married Frank McTighe, brass finisher, 6 April 1893 at St. Paul's. He was born in Allegheny City, PA 4 March 1872 and lived at 198 Rebecca at Allegheny City when they took out the marriage license. She was born 29 December 1871 in Pittsburg and lived in the 6th ward in Pittsburgh. Children included John A. McTigue, Francie, and Margaret. In the 1893 city director, Frank is listed at 1 Maria Street with his mother-in-law; after James's death, Anna Ward moved in with Frank and Johanna. In 1894 the couple are listed at 7 Linton, but Frank isn't listed again until 1917, 1933, and 1923, all three years at 7023 Hamilton Ave. Johanna was a big woman, about six feet tall.

The family apparently moved to Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California around 1926, when they appear in a directory as living at 776 E. 40th St. Frank S. McTighe, widower, son of John McTighe, died 26 November 1940 in Los Angeles, California, after 4 years and 9 months in the Little Sisters of the Poor hospital. His birthdate was given as 5 March 1873 Pittsburgh, PA. He had lived in California for 16 years. He died of chronic myocarditis and arteriosclerosis and was buried 28 November 1940 in Calvary Cemetery. Johanna's death certificate said she died 18 February 1927 Los Angeles, California, of bacteremia and acute myocarditis, age 52 years 1 month 19 days; her husband of 776 E. 49th St. signed the certificate. She was buried at Calvary Cemetery.

Note the different birth date for Samual (Frank S.?) McTighe:
Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 13, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T623_1359; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 156.
Samual Mctighe...36...Mar 1864...PA, PA, PA...laborer...married 6 years
Johona A Mctighe...24...Dec 1875...PA, Ireland, Ireland...2 children, 2 living
Alexandra Mctighe...5...Mar 1895...PA, PA, PA...son
Margrett Mctighe...4...May 1896...PA, PA, PA...dau

1920 - Pittsburgh Ward 13, Allegheny, Pennsylvania
Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 13, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1522; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 526; Image: 235.
Frank S McTighe...46...PA, PA, PA...laborer, brass shop...owns home...reads/writes
Johannah McTighe...36...PA, Ireland, Ireland
Frances McTighe...18...PA, PA, PA...son

Children of JOANNA WARD and FRANK MCTIGHE are:
15.....i.....MARGARET MCTIGHE was born May 1896 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. .....i.....JOHN ALEXANDER MCTIGHE was b. 31 Mar 1894 Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and died 28 Sep 1969 in Riverside County, California. Based on the 1920 census, he may first have married CATHERINE EGAN about 1916 in Pittsburgh; he married CLOE ANNA HAZEN, presumably in California. Burial for John and Cloe: Forest Lawn in Englewood, Los Angeles, CA

WORLD WAR I DRAFT REGISTRATION CARD
Name: John A Mctighe
113 Dinwiddie St.
City: Pittsburgh
County: Allegheny
State: Pennsylvania
Birthplace: Pennsylvania;United States of America
Birth Date: 31 Mar 1894
elevator operator at William Penn Hotel
wife, 1 child
Race: Caucasian (White)
Tall, medium build, gray eyes, dark hair, not bald
FHL Roll Number: 1908015
DraftBoard: 2

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 1, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1517; Page: 21B; Enumeration District: 325; Image: 142. January 15, 1920
William A Egan...26...PA, PA, PA...single...repairman, awning company
Cora May Egan...46...PA, PA, OH...widowed...mother...janitoress, office building
Erasmus Divvens...81...PA, PA, PA...widowed...grandfather
John A Mctigh...25...PA, PA, PA...brother-in-law...laborer, department store
Catherine Mctigh...24...PA, PA, PA...sister
Catherine Mctigh...3 4/12...PA, PA, PA...niece
William R Mctigh...1 6/12...PA, PA, PA...nephew

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Roll: 144; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 310; Image: 936.0. April 7, 1930
John A Mctigh...35...PA, PA, PA...salesman, dairy company...married at 21
Cloe A Mctigh...34...KS, MD, IA...married at 16
Charlette L Caldwell...1 11/12...CA, New Mexico, Colorado...dau

CALIFORNIA DEATH INDEX
Name: John A McTighe
Social Security #: 565161638
Sex: Male
Birth Date: 31 Mar 1894
Birthplace: Pennsylvania
Death Date: 28 Sep 1969
Death Place: Riverside
Mother's Maiden Name: Ward

SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX
Name: John McTighe
SSN: 565-16-1638
Last Residence: 91752 Mira Loma, Riverside, California, United States of America
Born: 31 Mar 1894
Died: Sep 1969
State (Year) SSN issued: California (Before 1951)

CALIFORNIA DEATH INDEX
Name: Cloie Anna McTighe [Cloie Anna Hazen]
Social Security #: 550216841
Sex: Female
Birth Date: 24 Sep 1895
Birthplace: Kansas
Death Date: 10 Oct 1981
Death Place: Kern
Mother's Maiden Name: Saunders
Father's Surname: Hazen

7. MARGARET WARD (JAMES) was born March 1876 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and died January 27, 1917. She married JOHN M. SCHERER October 19, 1898 in Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Pittsburgh, Alleghency Co. PA. He was born September 1873, and died November 04, 1954.

Notes for MARGARET WARD:
.....Margaret Ward was baptized 1 July 1877 at Sacred Heart Church, Pittsburgh, PA. On 19 October 1898 she married at Scared Heart Church to John M. Scherer, who was then driving a Pittsburgh trolley car. He was a handyman or day laborer most of his life, born in September 1893 to a Pennsylvanian mother and German father. The Fiore family (who became friends of the family--sources are Irene Fiore Martini and her sister Rose Fiore Saterial) bought a house at 182 Shetland Ave. about 1909, along with two four-room houses behind it facing Maxwell Alley. In one lived the Scherers, paying $5/month rent. The Fiores saw John as polite, quiet, rather a loner, whose only vice was pipe smoking (Fine Brothers tobacco). Margaret was neat and very clean about her person and her house, smiled a lot, tall, not heavy, wore her dark hair "with a tube on top" and wore long skirts with blouses she made herself. As a special treat, she used to bake bread and sprinkle sugar on top. Maggie read palms and cards, successfully predicting the birth of a Fiore son before Mrs. Fiore knew she was pregnant and predicting daughter Rose's unhappy first marriage. She used to tell ghost stories, and Ed Heh, whose mother was John Scherer's only sister, remembered this. "She used to scare the hell out of us, making the walk home, especially at night, pretty scary." Mrs. Fiore used to say to her children, "Why can't you be more like the Scherer boys?" because they were polite and quiet, well-mannered. Around 1914-15, the Fiores raised the rent a few dollars, unknowingly forcing the Scherers to move.
.....Mrs. Fiore made weekly trips to see Margaret, about 1/3rd mild away on Missouri or Paulson Avenue, across the Larimer Bridge, carrying clothes and an occasional snack. (Once Barney spied a bag of doughnuts on the table and ate one. "Barney, thems Mrs. Fiore's!" Maggie cried, but Mrs. Fiore had brought them for the Scherers.)
.....Around 1915-16, Maggie took a job at Temington School, a few blocks away. Mrs. Fiore tracked her down there and found her pushing a big mop in a big wooden bucket; she'd become a janitor because money was short. She scolded, "Margaret, you shouldn't be working in your condition!" A few weeks later, Margaret was admitted to Pittsburgh Hospital, but her only concern was for boys. Mrs. Fiore visited, leaving three dollars under Maggie's pillow. She died there at 8:45 a.m. on 27 January 1917 of chronic interstitial nephritis. At that time, they had been living at 1206 Paulson Avenue.
.....Following Maggie's death, the three boys moved in with Bernard and Mary WARD Haas. John took to drinking, so his youngest son spent some time in St. Peter & Paul Orphanage. John died of an accidental fall and was buried beside Maggie at Calvary Cemetery on 4 November 1954, age 81.

Children of MARGARET WARD and JOHN SCHERER are:
.....i.....JOHN M. SCHERER, b. 1900; d. March 07, 1900. He was just 15 days old. Burial: Calvary Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

15.....ii.....BERNARD SCHERER, b. January 31, 1902; d. February 03, 1982.
.....iii.....JAMES SCHERER, b. Abt. 1902; d. Abt. 1960. James left Pittsburgh for Cleveland, settled in Erie. Died of heart attack 1960. Wife Marguerite.

.....iv.....MARGARET A. SCHERER, b. Abt. February 1904; d. December 16, 1904.
16.....v.....JOSEPH DAVID SCHERER, b. March 23, 1910.

8. WILLIAM THOMAS MCCLAFFERTY (ELLEN WARD, JAMES) was born 02 Dec 1896 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and d. there 26 Apr 1970. On 23 Jun 1919 in Wellsburg, Brooke, West Virginia, USA, he married VIOLA MILDRED JAQUAY, who was born 25 Jul 1903 in Pennsylvania and d. in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA on 04 Oct 1979.

WORLD WAR I DRAFT REGISTRATION CARD
Name: William Thomas Mcclafferty
220 Wallace Street
City: Pittsburgh
County: Allegheny
State: Pennsylvania
Birthplace: Pennsylvania;United States of America
Birth Date: 2 Dec 1896
Father's birthplace: County Donegal, Ireland
citizen of United States
Employer: Thomas Gallegher, First Ave., Pittsburgh, PA
relative: Mrs. Mary Glover, same address
medium height/build, blue eyes, brown hair
FHL Roll Number: 1908016
DraftBoard: 3

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 4, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1519; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 363; Image: 684.
William Mcclafferty...23...PA, Ireland, PA...rents...can read/write...laborer, Butterine Factory
Viola Mcclafferty...17...PA, PA, PA...can read/write

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1971; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 75; Image: 853.0.
Wm Mcclafferty...33...PA, Ireland, California...married at 22...laborer, steel mill
Viola Mcclafferty...26...PA, PA, PA...married at 16
Mildred Mcclafferty...10...PA, PA, PA
William Mcclafferty...8...PA, PA, PA
Marie Mcclafferty...6...PA, PA, PA

WORLD WAR II ENLISTMENT
Name: William T McClafferty
Birth Year: 1897
Race: White, Citizen (White)
Nativity State or Country: Pennsylvania
State of Residence: Pennsylvania
County or City: Allegheny
Enlistment Date: 8 Oct 1942
Enlistment State: Pennsylvania
Enlistment City: Pittsburgh
Branch: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Branch Code: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Grade: Private
Grade Code: Private
Term of Enlistment: Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Component: Selectees (Enlisted Men)
Source: Enlisted Man, Regular Army, after 3 months of Discharge
Education: Grammar school
Civil Occupation: Retail managers
Marital Status: Divorced, with dependents
Height: 65
Weight: 120

Source Citation: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania Veterans Burial Cards, 1929-1990; Archive Collection Number: Series 1-8; Folder Number: 308
Name: Wm T Mc Clafferty
Birth Date: 2 Dec 1896
Death Date: 26 Apr 1970
Age: 73
Military Branch: Army
Service from 10-8-42 to 7-1-45
Co. C, something that looks like "Cvl B," T-5
Cemetery Name: Allegheny
Cemetery Location: Allegheny
granite tombstone, in vets area

Sources include:
KORYDA/JAQUAY TREE at http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/4849402/person/2011594882

Children of William Thomas McClafferty and Viola Jaquay were:
18.....i.....Mildred Viola McClafferty, b. 30 Apr 1920 and d. 03 Aug 2001, both in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA. She married JOHN HENRY HRYNISZAK, who was b. 20 Dec 1915 PA and d. 03 Aug 2001 Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
.....ii.....William Thomas McClafferty, b. 03 Apr 1922, married BETTY ANN LONG, and d. November 1985 in Apache Junction, Pinal, Arizona.
.....iii.....Marie Eleanor McClafferty, b. 31 Aug 1924 Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA, and d. 23 Oct 2011 in Jacksonville Beach, Duval County, Florida. She married FREDERICK NELSON REXROAD.

9. ANNA MARIE WARD (MICHAEL JAMES, JAMES) was born July 06, 1896 in Elwood, Madison County, Indiana, and died December 09, 1992 in Elwood, Madison County, Indiana. She married JOSEPH WILLIAMS August 09, 1920 in Elwood, Madison County, Indiana. He was born February 19, 1897, and died July 03, 1984 in Elwood, Madison County, Indiana.

Notes for ANNA MARIE WARD:
.....When she was baptized, "Papa" had a big barrel of beer in the yard and threw a big party with his fellow glassblowers. Anna's mother didn't want her to marry Joe Williams, claiming she was "too young" at 24, and she would quit working, so they'd lose the money--she always gave Tess her paycheck! Only "Papa" and her grandmother approved; Aunt Jane and Minnie were against marriage as an institution, they said! Perhaps they changed their minds later, for Daddy Joe was awfully good to them, sending them the daily paper even before he'd read it, since they didn't subscribe. On 9 August 1920 she married Joseph Lawrence WILLIAMS, whom the family called "Daddy Joe."
.....Both were members of the Parish Council and Ecumenical Diocesan Council. Daddy Joe retired from Franier Packing Co. and Widmeyer Co. He was a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus and member of the St. Joseph Choir. Born 19 February 1897, he was the son of John Williams (12 September 1863-24 August 1959) and Mary Ripberger (1 May 1861-20 March 1942); Joe died 3 July 1984 in Elwood, Indiana. Dark hair and brown eyes come from his family.
.....Anna was in the Elwood Department Club, Church Women United, St. Anne's Study Club of National Council of Catholic Women, the Rosary Society, and was associated with the Girl Scouts. She worked with the Red Cross and cancer drives and aided migrant workers through the AMOS program.
.....In 1980, when she and Daddy Joe celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, they traveled to Ireland for the first time as a gift from their grandchildren.
.....Anna used to say that Angela BRADY Wheatley was "more of a sister to me than my own sisters are, because we have so much in common," and Margaret Ward was always jealous of that. When the families got so big that Anna and Angela hadn't time to talk, they planned to meet at Mike White's Wonder Bar, but never got around to it. Both women lost a child. When Dorothy Wheatley had her first convulsion on a Sunday, the phone operator told Anna to call Angela. Anna did, then went down. Dr. W. H. Hoppenrath had her taken to Mercy, and Anna stayed all night there a few times to relieve Angela from the death watch. Dorothy told Anna that Herb Wheatley was going to buy her a piano when she got home. A few weeks later, Angela called Anna and asked, "Are you going to 6 a.m. Mass?" because Dorothy had died. Similarly, Angela was with Anna the night Larry Williams lay dying. Rita Ward gave him castor oil in red pop, to no avail. There was a big tomato festival going on, and the Wheatleys had given them the Model T to drive to the festival, but they went to the cemetery on a lovely moonlit night instead and stood over the tiny grave, feeling he wasn't there. Tom Williams and Bob Wheatley had a "no girls allowed" fort in the back of Anna's house; Sis Williams and Judy Wheatley had a newspaper on what Irene Mattingly, Mabel, and they were doing, typed up on Anna's typewriter.
.....Anna died Dec. 9, 1992.

Children of ANNA WARD and JOSEPH WILLIAMS are:
19.....i.....JOANNE T. WILLIAMS, born, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; m. ANTHONY CHARLES PRIESHOFF on June 23, 1942..
20.....ii.....JOHN MICHAEL WILLIAMS, b. November 07, 1923, Elwood, Madison, Indiana; m. MARY ANN BLITZ, June 24, 1950; b. December 08, 1924; d. September 1968.
21.....iii.....THOMAS EDWARD WILLIAMS, b. November 14, 1929; m. ALBERTINE BARNES, known as Abby. He worked at General Motors and Anheiser-Busch, and retired to Hendersonville, North Carolina from Nashua, New Hampshire.
22.....iv.....MARY MARGARET WILLIAMS m. JAMES BRENNER, who was born 11 May 1931 Alexandria, Madison, Indiana, USA and died 24 Aug 1995 Muncie, Delaware, Indiana, USA.

.....v.....LAWRENCE JOSEPH WILLIAMS, b. July 15, 1937, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; d. July 27, 1939, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana.

Notes for LAWRENCE JOSEPH WILLIAMS:
Larry was a lovely baby whose picture won first prize in a contest once, died 27 July 1939, possibly of infantile leukemia, although the family used to warn children away from the red berries on the bush out back by claiming they poisoned him. The family had returned from the lake and he died in less than a week. Rita Ward fed him castor oil in red soda pop, but it didn't help.

10. THOMAS JOSEPH WARD (MICHAEL JAMES, JAMES) was born March 01, 1908, and died 17 December 1980. He was buried in Elwood, Madison, Indiana. He married ANN KESERICH, born 06 Aug 1909 Gary, Lake, Indiana; died 23 Aug 2002 Palos Heights, Cook, Illinois, USA.

Source Citation: Year: 1940; Census Place: Gary, Lake, Indiana; Roll: T627_1119; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 95-6. Rhode Island Street.
Thomas Ward...31...OH...maintenance man...rents home, $30/month...4 years of high school...income $2000
Ann Ward...30...IN...high school, 3rd year
3...2...Maryland

SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX
Name: Thomas Ward
SSN: 218-09-1661
Last Residence: 46036 Elwood, Madison, Indiana, United States of America
Born: 1 Mar 1908
Died: Dec 1980
State (Year) SSN issued: Maryland (Before 1951)

23....i.....MARTHA ANN WARD
.....ii.....

11. JAMES MICHAEL WARD (MICHAEL JAMES, JAMES) was born May 08, 1904, and died March 16, 1937. He married EDNA BRADY. She died May 16, 1936.

Notes for JAMES PATRICK WARD:
.....Jimmy loved animals and used to be late to school--if he got there at all--because he would stop to pet the milkman's horse. They rerouted him so he didn't pass the milkman to solve that problem. A grocery store on Anderson, run by a Catholic, used a horse and wagon to deliver groceries, and Jim ran errands for them because he wanted to be with the horse. He missed several days of school while his father was out of town dealing with a glass factory problem, and the truant officer came for him. It's said that Ed, Tom, and Jimmy owned an old junker of a car and two Fridays in a row the Murphy brothers borrowed it to go to Noblesville, until the boys learned they were going to KKK meetings in it--and with no blacks or Jews living in Elwood, the KKK had only Catholics like the Wards to pick on! (Unfortunately, Ed told me he didn't remember this happening.) Jimmy loved dogs, all animals, and children. He was a member of the "G Street Terriers" ball club, which only possessed one bat.
.....Jim and Tom were good friends, but Ed wasn't as popular. Jim and Tom would "go junking" on Saturday mornings for scrap metal to sell to the junk wagon. They would hide their funds under a board in the clothes closet. Their mother knew it, and once took a quarter to buy a newspaper, replacing it with a dime--but they noticed!
.....Anna remembered Jim as sensible, giving good advice. Once she was mad at Jessie Fettig and wrote her an angry letter, but her brother told her, "I wouldn't send that if I were you," so she didn't.
.....When the rest of the family was in Fort Smith, he was in his twenties and working in the mill, boarding with Joe and Anna Williams. He came to Ft. Smith to spend Christmas with them, bringing a play stove with cooking utensils for Mary. Jimmy and Edna BRADY (which see) were married 4 May 1926 at St. John's Catholic Church in Tipton, Indiana.

Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Death Certificates; Year: 1937; Roll: 04
James Michael Ward died at Mercy Hospital in Calument Township, Gary, Lake, Indiana, USA on March 16, 1937 at 1:30 AM and being under treatment since March 6. Cause of death: pleuropneumonia with effusion. He was widowed. He lived at 4021 Van Buren. He worked as a roller at Am. Sheet & Tin Plate. He was born May 8, 1904 in Elwood, Madison, Indiana. Parents: Michael Ward, born Pittsburg, PA and Thearesa Rooney, born Indiana. Geisen Funeral Home of Gary was in charge and he would be buried in Fairview Cemetery in Tipton, IN. Informant: Mrs. Thearesa Ward of 1223 So. G Street, Elwood, IN.,P. The Elwood Call-Leader (Vol. XXXVI, #106) for Tuesday, Mary 4, 1926, on page 3 reported:

PRETTY CHURCH WEDDING
One of the season's prettiest weddings took place at St. John's Catholic Church this morning at 8 o'clock when Miss Edna Brady, charming daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Brady of Tipton, became the bride of James Ward, of this city, son of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ward of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Rev. Joseph Bislstein, pastor of St. John's church, performed the impressive single ring ceremony. The couple was attended by Miss Angela Brady, sister of the bride and Herbert Wheatley of this city. Following the ceremony, a wedding dinner was held at the home of the bride's parents, for the bridal party and few relatives and friends. The bride is a popular and well-liked young lady of Tipton. She has been employed in Indianapolis for the past two years, where she had made a host of friends. The groom is prominent young man of this city and is well-liked by all who know him. After a short honeymoon trip the couple will return to Gary, to make their home, where the bridegroom is employed in the tin mills.

Edna Brady Ward died in Gary Indiana, 16 May 1936, after scarlet fever led to rheumatic fever and weakened her heart. The Elwood Call-Leader (Vol. XXXXVI, #119, page one, for Monday, 18 May 1936, reported:

MRS. EDNA WARD DIES
SATURDAY AT GARY HOME .....Mrs. Edna Ward, 31, wife of James Ward and daughter-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ward, 1223 South G street, died at her home in Gary Saturday evening at 6 o'clock, of heart trouble and complications.
.....She had visited Elwood on several occasions and was well-known here. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Brady, of Tipton, and was born in 1904.
.....Surviving besides the husband are two children, Rita, 8, and Mary Jane, 7, and her mother, Mrs. Brady, of Tipton.
.....Funeral services will be conducted at the St. John's Catholic Church in Tipton tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock, and burial will be in the Tipton cemetery.

My dear Mrs. Brady--
.....I would much prefer to call you Bell, or better yet, Momma. May I?
.....It isn't at all necessary to remind you that Thursday is Edna's birthday, but since we can't celebrate the occasion with her, we can secure some comfort by doing so together. How I wish it were possible to be together today to express our thoughts of her, and what she has meant to both of us. I am not unmindful of the reasoning that, though madly in love of her, my affection could not equal that of yours. No Husband can ever expect to rival the Love of a Mother for her child, but with you I share for her all the affection of one who was permitted to be her Husband.
.....I recall having written you several years ago on this same day, telling you of all the good traits I found in her, and just what she meant to me. Today I repeat them over again, and have many more to add. I pointed out her unselfishness, her strength of character, that she embodied all that was pure and noble, the perfect housekeeper, a true companion, and to all this she added that divine touch of Motherhood. Edna was truly the Woman Dependable, and as near perfection as it is possible and still remain a human being. Why are there so few like her in this world?
.....I know that I owe to you all that she meant to me, for you placed in her all of her goodness. I can't say "Thank you" for that falls so short of how I feel about your good work. So what I told you a few years ago still is true--That if you never did anything else in life worthwhile, the fact that you brought Edna into the world should assure you of a place in Heaven.

JAMES WARD DIES EARLY TODAY
AT GARY HOSPITAL .....James Michael Ward, 33, former Elwood resident, died at 1:30 o'clock this morning in Gary, of pneumonia.
.....The deceased was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ward, residing at 1223 South G street, and was born May 8, 1904. He was united in marriage to Miss Edna Brady, of Tipton, in May, 1926. She died May 16, 1936.
.....Mr. Ward was employed as a roller in the mills at Gary. He was a member of the Elwood Council of the Knights of Columbus.
.....Surviving besides the parents are two daughters, Rita, 10, and Mary Jane, 8; three sisters, Mrs. Joseph Williams, Elwood; Miss Mary Ward, at home; and Miss Margaret Ward, Anderson; and two brothers, Thomas and Edward Ward, both of Elwood.
.....The body will be brought to the York Memorial Chapel tomorrow morning and later will be removed to the house of the parents.
.....Funeral services will be conducted at the St. Joseph's Church Thursday morning at 9 o'clock with the pastor, Father N.C. Huemmer, in charge. Burial will be made beside his wife in the Catholic cemetery at Tipton.

12. ANNA LEONA HAAS (MARY WARD, JAMES) was born 29 April 1887, and died June 16, 1938. She married JOHN HENRY WOISTMAN Abt. 1908. Anna had seven children, but only Henry, Anna Marie, and Leona survived. After Anna's death of carcinoma of the uterus, Henry remarried and lived a couple years, leaving a widow and one son.Anna's death certificate can be found at ancestry.com and Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906-1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania..

Children of Anna Haas and Henry Woistman include:
.....i..... HENRY F. WOISTMAN, born 12 February 1912, died 02 Dec 1983, both in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. . Spouse: MILDRED.

Publication: News Record, Location: North Hills, Pennsylvania, Issue Date: Tuesday, December 6, 1983
Henry Woistman, Ross
.....Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Monday morning in Sts. Peter and Paul Church, East End, Pittsburgh, for Henry F. Woistman, 73, who died Friday, Dec. 2, 1983, in Suburban General Hospital.
.....He was born to late John H. and Anna Haas Woistman. >BR> .....Burial will be in St. Stanislaus Cemetery, Shaler

13. BERNARD WARD HAAS (MARY WARD, JAMES) was born December 08, 1900 Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; and died in Glenshaw, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, USA on 29 January 1971. On 17 Jun 1936 in Miami, Miami-Dade, Florida, USA he married FRANCES MARY WOOD, born 25 April 1903 in Pennsylvania, died in Longwood, Seminole, Florida, USA on 04 Apr 1988.

Year: 1940; Census Place: Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T627_3653; Page: 17B; Enumeration District: 69-50
Mary Wood...63...England...naturalized...high school, 4 yr...widowed...rents home/$106...housekeeper
Bernard Haas...39...PA...college, 2 yr...salesman...income: $850...son-in-law
Frances Haas...37...PA, PA, England...married at 22...no children...daughter
Paul Haas...20...PA...college 2 yr...son (listed as Paul Wood in 1930 census, so this is undoubtedly a census error)

SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX
Name: Bernard Haas
SSN: 262-05-3162
Last Residence: 15116 Glenshaw, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Born: 8 Dec 1900
Died: Jan 1971
State (Year) SSN issued: Florida (Before 1951 )

14. PAUL A. GRETZ (SARAH WARD, JAMES) was born March 1897, and died January 28, 1982. He married MARY BUCILLI.

The Chronicle Tribune for Marion, page 12, for 29 January 1982 reported:

PAUL A. GRETZ .....Paul A. Gretz, 84, 1623 E. 37th St., Marion, died at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at Marion General Hospital.
.....Mr. Gretz, a life resident of Marion, was a retired self-employed mechanic. A World War I veteran, he was a member of Veterans of Foreigh Wars Post 6748, American Legion Post 10, and the St. Paul Catholic Church.
.....Surviving are his wife, Mary; two sons, John and Pete, both of Marion; one daughter, Mrs. Joe (Mary) Savarino, Somerset; one brother, Francis, Indianapolis; one sister, Mrs. Mary West, Bedrod; and six grandchildren.
.....Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the St. Paul's Catholic Church, 1031 Kem Road, Marion, with the Rev. Joseph Grace officiating. Burial will be in the Grant Memorial Park cemetery, Marion.
....Friends may call from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today at the Needham and Son Funeral Home, 814 Adams St., Marion, where the Rosary will be recited at 8 p.m. today.

15. MARGARET MCTIGHE (JOANNA WARD, JAMES) She married THOMAS O'REILLY. They are both buried in Calvary Cemetery, Lost Angeles County, Calfornia.

16. BERNARD SCHERER (MARGARET WARD, JAMES) was born January 31, 1902, and died February 03, 1982. Bernard lied about his age to enter the Air Corps, became a Master Sergeant, and retired after 30 years to Orlando, Florida, dying there 3 February 1982

17. JOSEPH DAVID SCHERER (MARGARET WARD, JAMES) was born March 23, 1910.

Notes for JOSEPH DAVID SCHERER:
He was born 23 March 1910 and his mother wore a bright red suit that day and felt even brighter when Mrs. Fiore baked a big pan of rice pudding for the Scherers. Joe became a meatcutter, which is how he first met the DiDario family: Angelo DiDario and Michaeline DeMarco DiDario (both born in Italy), and daughter Mary. When they hadn't seen him for a few days, Mary and Michelina found him in his one-room apartment, alone, sick, and close to death. They nursed him back to health, and Joseph married Mary, born 21 January 1916, a beautifully Italian woman who let him have sauerkraut once a year, for New Year's! Joseph's eyes would tear when he mentioned his mother, whom he thought of often. He was "kind, generous, hardworking, and had the unique ability for one who had reached only 8th grade to let me, his only child, be myself. For those he loved he couldn't give enough and couldn't feel enough," remembered his son. Joseph died of a heart attack at age 58 and was buried 23 October 1968 in Calvary Cemetery, Pittsburgh, PA.

18. MILDRED MCCLAFFERTY (WILLIAM THOMAS, ELLEN, JAMES) was born 30 April 1920 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania and d. there 03 Aug 2001. She married John Henry Hryniszak, b. 30 Apr 1920 PA and d. 14 Jul 1986 Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA.
.....i.....John Henry Hryniszak, b. 12 Oct 1952, d. 14 Feb 2010 Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA.
.....ii.....
.....iii.....

19. JOANNE T. WILLIAMS (ANNA, MICHAEL JAMES, JAMES), born 16 Jul 1922, Elwood, Madison County, Indiana; m. ANTHONY CHARLES PRIESHOFF on June 23, 1942. He served in the Navy in World War II and is buried in St. Joseph Cemetery, Elwood, Madison, IN. He was b. 05 Mar 1920 and d. 27 Sep 1997. Joanne died December 27, 2016 in Elwood and is also buried in St. Joseph Cemetery, Elwood, Madison, Indiana, USA.

Obituary from the Copher-Fesler-May Funeral Home
Elwood, Madison Co., IN
27 Dec 2016
Joanne T. Prieshoff
July 16, 1922 - December 26, 2016
.....Joanne T. Prieshoff, age 94 of Elwood, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on Monday, December 26, 2016 at St. Vincent Mercy Hospital in Elwood after a long, well-lived life. She was born July 16, 1922 in Elwood, the daughter of Joseph L. and Anna M. (Ward) Williams. She was a 1940 graduate of Elwood High School. She married the love of her life, Anthony Charles “Tony” Prieshoff on June 13, 1942, and they shared over 55 years of marriage together prior to his passing in 1997. Joanne was a devoted member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elwood and was a member of the National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW), the Ladies auxiliary to the Knights of Columbus, and the Altar and Rosary Society. In the 1940’s, she worked in a local factory to assist the support efforts of World War II. She also worked at Frazier’s Canning Company in Elwood seasonally, and worked at Indiana-Michigan Power Company. Joanne later worked in production at Delco Remy Division of General Motors at Plant 20 in Anderson for nearly 30 years, and retired in 1982. She enjoyed crocheting, flower gardening, reading, music of all kinds, and dancing. She also formerly enjoyed spending time at Indiana lakes and traveling throughout the country and overseas with her husband. Joanne had a great sense of humor, and especially adored babies. More than anything, she was devoted to her family who will miss her very much.
.....Joanne’s surviving legacy includes son, Daniel A. Prieshoff of Elwood; 3 daughters, Mary K. Fincher of Atlanta, Margaret A. (husband Larry) Hudson of Elwood, and Theresa M. (husband John) Pichtel of Gaston; special grandson who Joanne was a second mother to growing up in her home, Michael (wife Cynthia) Prieshoff; brother, Thomas Williams of Inverness, FL; sister, Margaret Brenner of Alexandria; 7 grandchildren, Lora Engle, Leah (husband Stephen) Pichtel, Matthew Paro, Kendra Paro, Jozef Pichtel, Derek Paro and Michael (wife Cynthia) Prieshoff, 5 great-grandchildren, Zachary, Michaela, Nolan, Colin, and Loui; 4 great great-grandchildren, Calum, Cayden, Liam, and Zane; and several nieces and nephews.
.....She was preceded in death by her parents; infant brother, Lawrence Williams; brother, Michael Williams; daughter, Anne Louise Paro; and granddaughter, April Denise Hudson.
.....A Mass of Christian Burial Service will be conducted at 11:00 AM on Saturday, December 31, 2016 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elwood with Father Dan Duff officiating. Burial will follow in St. Joseph Cemetery in Elwood. Visitation for family and friends will be held from 2 to 7 PM on Friday, December 30, 2016 at Copher-Fesler-May Funeral Home, and will include a Rosary Service recitation at 6 PM. Memorial contributions are suggested to the St. Joseph Church Building Fund, the Alzheimer’s Association, or the American Life League through the funeral home.

Children of ANTHONY PRIESHOFF and JOANNE T. WILLIAMS:
.....i.....
.....ii.....Anne Louise Prieshoff (born 03 Feb 1962 in Elwood) died 14 July 2010 in Indianapolis, Marion, IN of cancer.

Obituary from the Elwood Call-Leader, Elwood, Madison Co., IN, 15 Jul 2010
ANNE LOUISE PARO
...Anne Louise (Prieshoff) Paro, 48, of Elwood, passed away Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at St.Vincent Hospice in Indianapolis following an extended illness.
...Anne was born Feb. 3, 1962, in Elwood, the daughter of the late Anthony C. Prieshoff and Joanne (Williams) Prieshoff.
...She married Charles R. Paro Oct. 27, 1989. He survives.
...Anne was a devoted wife and mother. She loved spending time with her family.
...She is survived by her husband, Charles Paro of Elwood; one daughter, Kendra Anne Paro of Elwood; three sons, Michael and wife, Cyndi Prieshoff, Matthew J. Paro and Derek S. Paro, all of Elwood; mother, Joanne Prieshoff of Elwood; a brother, Dan Prieshoff of Elwood; three sisters, Kathy Fincher of Atlanta, Margee and husband, Larry Hudson of Elwood and Theresa and husband, John Pichtel of Muncie; and several nieces and nephews.
...She was preceded in death by her father and a niece, April Hudson.
...Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Monday, July 19, 2010 at St. Joseph Catholic Church with Father Paul Cochran officiating. Burial will be at St. Joseph Cemetery.
...Friends may call from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Dunnichay Funeral Home, with the Rosary at 6 p.m.
...Memorial contributions may be made to St.Vincent Hospice.

20. JOHN MICHAEL WILLIAMS (ANNA, MICHAEL JAMES, JAMES), b. November 07, 1923, Elwood, Madison, Indiana; m. MARY ANN BLITZ, June 24, 1950; b. December 08, 1924; d. September 1968.

Notes for JOHN MICHAEL WILLIAMS:
At one time, Mick dated Betty Moyer, the woman who later married Lee Leavell, and Rita WARD Leavell remembers letting the air out of Lee's tires several times to get back at him for stealing Mick's girl! Mick's picture stood under a green Tiffany lamp in the front window of Aunt Jane ROONEY's house all through World War II. He served in Africa and in the invasion of Italy. He became a sergeant but was busted to buck private when he hit an Englishman--which made him a real Irish hero to Aunt Jane! Mick married Mary Ann Biltz on 24 June 1950. She was born 8 December 1924 and died of cancer 14 September 1968. The Biltz family was blond and of German descent. Mick sold insurance and had the gift of gab.

John Michael “Mick” Williams, 88, died on June 17, 2012 at his home on Lake Tippecanoe, Syracuse, IN. He was surrounded by his seven children. He was born in Elwood, IN to Joseph & Anne Williams on November 7, 1923. He married Mary Ann Biltz on June 24, 1950. She passed away on September 14, 1968. He was a member of the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elwood until moving to Lake Tippecanoe and was a current member of St. Martin dePorres parish in Syracuse. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus Council 6323. He is survived by seven children in whom he instilled the importance of family, faith, and having fun in their lives. Terri Wentz (Orv Myers) of Goshen, Karen (Randy) Tunis of Elwood, Joe (Debbie) Williams of Goodyear, AZ, Tim Williams of Muncie, Ann Williams of Denver, CO, Betsy Williams of Leesburg and Vince Williams of Indianapolis. Nine grandchildren – Lisa (Eric) Bishop of Columbus, Angela Wentz of Atlanta, GA, Julia (Christopher) Bernard of San Francisco, CA, Michele Wilson of Elwood, Stephanie (Zach) Head of Elwood, Chris (Julie) Williams of Goodyear, AZ, Clint (Christina) Williams of Goodyear, AZ, William Thieme of Denver, CO and Michael Thieme of Denver, CO. Twelve great-grandchildren – Erica Bishop, Madyson Lane, Alexandra Rudig, McKenzie Wilson, Macy Wilson, Quentin Head, Connor Bernard, Gabby Graham, Mya Williams, Jada Williams, Kami Williams and Keith Williams, along with one great-great-grandchild Eli Miller. Mick is also survived by two sisters – Joanne Prieshoff of Elwood and Margaret Brenner of Alexandria, and a brother Tom (Abby) Williams of Inverness, FL. In addition to his parents and wife, he was preceded in death by his little brother, Larry Williams and grandson Eric Wentz, who shared his birthday. He graduated from Elwood High School in 1942 and attended Butler University, where he was a member of the football team. He graduated from International Business College in Ft. Wayne. Mick served his country as a cryptographer as a Staff Sergeant under General Hap Arnold in the US Army Air Corp in Italy and North Africa in WWII and was offered a position in the Diplomatic Corp at the end of the war. He was retired from Farm Bureau Insurance, having worked in Muncie, Anderson, Ft. Wayne and Warsaw. He was a member of the American Legion Post 253 in North Webster and the Benevolent Protectorate of Elks in Elwood. Calling will be Tuesday, June 19, 2012 from 4-8 PM at the Eastlund Funeral Home at 7458 E. 1000 N. Syracuse, IN 46567 with a Rosary service at 7:30. A funeral mass will be Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 10:30 AM at St. Martin dePorres Catholic Church with Father Richard Hire officiating. Interment will be at the St. Joseph Catholic cemetery in Elwood with full Military Honors at 3:00 PM. Family members will receive those wishing to express their condolences at the cemetery after 2:30. Memorial contributions may be made to: Kosciusko Home Care & Hospice or The Tippecanoe Watershed Foundation. Envelopes will be available at the funeral home.

Published in Citrus County Chronicle on Aug. 20, 2013
.....Albertine "Abby" Williams, 86, of Inverness, Fla., died Sunday, Aug. 18, 2013, at her home under the loving care of her family and Hospice of Citrus County. Abby was born May 29, 1927, in Fort Fairfield, Maine, the daughter of Gilbert and Bertha Barnes. She worked in a factory doing assembly work. Abby moved to Inverness in 1997 from Hendersonville, N.C. She was a member of Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Inverness.
…..Mrs. Williams was preceded in death by her parents, and her son, Kenneth. Survivors include her husband of 62 years, Thomas Williams; son, Anthony Williams of Manchester, N.H.; daughter, Sandra Pelletier of Inverness; sisters, Rowena Rand of Presque Isle, Maine, Maxine McLaughlin of Caribou, Maine; five grandchildren; and six great-granddaughters; and her beloved dog, Willie.
.....Visitation will be 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013, with a vigil service at 5:30 p.m., at Heinz Funeral Home Chapel. The funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013 at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, Inverness. Fr. Erwin Belgica will officiate.
Arrangements by Heinz Funeral Home and Cremation, Inverness.
…..i…..
…..ii…..
…..iii…..Kenneth James Williams was born 29 August 1952 in Presque Isle, Aroostook, Maine, and died 2 July 2008 in Inverness, Citrus, Florida.

Published in Citrus County Chronicle on July 6, 2008
Kenneth James Williams, 55, of Inverness, FL. died on July 2, 2008. Kenneth was born on August 29, 1952, in Presque Isle, Maine, son of Thomas and Albertine (Barnes) Williams. He was a graduate of Nashua High School in New Hampshire. Kenneth served his country in the U.S. Army. He was a carpenter. Survivors include his parents Thomas and Albertine Williams of Inverness; brother Anthony Williams of Manchester, NH; sister Sandra Pelletier of Milford, NH. Heinz Funeral Home & Cremation, Inverness.

Scanned obituary on findagrave.com, no newspaper credited:
JAMES A. BRENNER
ALEXANDRIA--James A. Brenner, 64, 1006 Indiana Ave., died August 24, 1995 at Bell Memorial Hospital after an extended illness.
.....He was born May 11, 1931, in Alexandria, and lived most of his life in Alexandria. He retired in 1990 from Delco Remy in Anderson after 41 years of employment. He was a 1949 graduate Alexandria High School. He was a retired member of UAW Local 682. He served in the Indiana National Guard for four years. He was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Alexandria.
.....Survivors include his wife of 44 years, Margaret M. (Williams) Brenner, whom he married March 31, 1951; a son and daughter-in-law, James H. and Karen Brenner of Alexandria; four daughters and three sons-in-law, Dianne Brenner of St. Stephens SC, Carol and James Durgan of Cincinnati, Ohio, Susan and Joseph Nelson of Alexandria, and Joanne and Anthony Smith of Anderson; two brothers and a sister-in-law, Donald Brenner of Anderson and Charles and Mary Brenner of Elwood; a sister and brother-in-law, Grace and Leroy Montgomery of Alexandria; and 12 grandchildren, Sarah Nelson, Jon Nelson, Shawn Nelson, James V. Brenner, Amanda Brenner, Joseph Brenner, and Anita Brenner, all of Alexandria, Jacob Smith, Christopher Smith, Jillian Smith, William Smith, and Antoinette Smith, all of Alexandria.
.....He was preceded in death by his parents, Harry and Manda (Jarrell) Brenner, and two brothers, Jack Brenner and Joseph Brenner.
.....Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Mary's Catholic Church, West Monroe Street, with the Rev. Hassinger and Robert Williams officiating. Burial will be at Park View Cemetery, Alexandria.
.....Friends may call from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Noffze Funeral Home, 501 N. Harrison St., Alexandria. The Rosary will be said at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home.
.....Memorial contributions may be made to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation through the funeral home.

Children include:
…..i…..LINDA DIANNE BRENNER, born 15 Jun 1952, died 15 Aug 2016 Muncie, Delaware, Indiana, USA. Spouse: MICHAEL ANTHONY WILSON, born 30 Jun 1962 Michigan, died 14 Mar 2010. See photo of her tombstone at findagrave.com

THE SUMMERVILLE JOURNAL SCENE
Thursday, August 25, 2016
(includes photo)
.....Linda “Dianne” Wilson, 64, of Anderson, passed away on August 15, 2016 at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, Muncie. She was born on June 15, 1952 in Elwood, raised in Alexandria, lived in Hartford City and South Carolina, and most recently in Anderson.
.....She graduated from Alexandria Monroe High School.
.....Dianne Brenner was a friendly, fun, and outgoing person. She was an avid Notre Dame fan. She supported her students’ athletic accomplishments. She also worked as a counselor and group leader at a Youth Red Cross Camp for 10 years and was part of the Red Cross Disaster Team for several years.
.....Dianne was also very stubborn and determined. When told by a high school guidance counselor that she could never handle the demands of college, she set out to prove her wrong. Dianne graduated from Ball State University with a Bachelors and a Masters Degrees in Education. She taught eight years in St. John’s the Evangelist Catholic School in Hartford City and was also principal for four of those years. The rest of her teaching career was spent at Cross Elementary School in Cross, South Carolina. Over the years she wrote and received many science grants and honors. She was voted Teacher of the Year twice at her school and once at the district level.
.....Dianne was a generous, loving, and nurturing person. She married Michael Wilson, the love of her life, who precedes her in death. She was godparent to several of her students and some of their babies as well. She helped bring food, water, clothes and supplies after Hurricane Hugo destroyed much of the area where she taught. She was an active member of Beta Sigma Phi sorority for many years.
.....Dianne is survived by her loving mother, Margaret Brenner of Alexandria, siblings, Carol (Jim) Durgan of Medina, OH, Susan (Joe) Nelson of Alexandria, Jim (Karen) Brenner of Alexandria, Joanne (Anthony) Smith of Anderson, step-daughter, Michelle (Jeremy) Wilson-Honeycutt of Greenwood, grandchildren, Lason and Jackson, several nieces and nephews.
.....She was preceded in death by her husband, Michael A. Wilson, and her father, James Brenner.
.....Visitation was held Sunday, August 21, 2016, 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm at Robert D. Loose Funeral Homes & Crematory, 200 West 53rd St. Anderson, with a Rosary Service held at 5:00 pm with Monsignor Robert Sell officiating.
.....A Mass of Christian Burial was at 11:00 am Monday, August 22, 2016, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 820 West Madison Ave. Alexandria, with Monsignor Robert Sell officiating, with visitation beginning at 10:00 am.
.....Cremation will take place, with burial in Park View Cemetery, Alexandria at a later date.
.....Memorial contributions may be made to the Pendleton Reformatory K9 Program or the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Published in Akron Beacon Journal on Apr. 7, 2018
James P. Durgan
.....James P. Durgan, 67, of Medina, passed away on Friday, April 6, 2018. He was born on May 23, 1950, to the late Harold and Alice (nee Hershburger) Durgan.
.....James worked in a printing factory, and was also an accomplished musician.
.....He truly loved spending time with his family and pets. Everyone who knew him was touched by his fabulous sense of humor.
.....James is survived by his wife of 46 years, Carol (nee Brenner); sisters, Donna (Dennis) Schultz and Susan Whipple; sisters-in-law; Susan (Joseph) Nelson, Joanne (Tony) Smith, and Karen Brenner; mother-in-law, Margaret Brenner, and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers-in-law, David Whipple and James H. Brenner; sister-in-law; Dianne Wilson; and father-in-law; James A. Brenner.
.....The family of James will receive friends on Monday, April 9, 2018 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Waite and Son Funeral Home, 765 North Court Street, Medina, 44256.
.....In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 4550 Montgomery Ave, Suite 1100 N, Bethesda, MD 2081.

.....James Harry Edward Brenner, 61 of Alexandria died Monday, November 6, 2017 at his residence after a brief illness.
.....Jim was born on May 21, 1956 and was the son of James A and Margret (Williams) Brenner. On Dec. 15, 1979 he married Karen (Parker) Brenner who survives.
.....Jim was employed 37 years at General Motors-Marion. He was a member of the Church of St. Mary’s and Tack Room University.
.....He enjoyed spending time with his children and grandchildren. He spent a great deal of time laughing; telling jokes and reminisces about the past. Jim particularly enjoyed talking through world issues at the local Johnson Farm tack room.
......Left to cherish his memory is his wife, Karen, his children, Jimmie (Danielle) Brenner, Joe Brenner, Amanda (Chris) Tucker, Anna (Earnest) Abbott, his mother Margaret Brenner, sisters, Carol (Jim) Durgan, Susan (Joe) Nelson, and Joanne (Tony) Smith. Also surviving are six grandchildren, Jessica Brenner, Mason Brenner, Bridgette Tucker, Vivian Tucker, Mac Abbott and Adrin Abbott.
.....He was preceded in death by his father, James A Brenner and a sister, Linda D. Wilson.
.....A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, Nov. 10, 2017 at 10:30 am in the Church of St. Mary’s, Alexandria. Burial will follow in Forestville Cemetery. Friends may call at Whetsel Funeral Service, Alexandria on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2017 from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm and one hour prior to the service on Friday at the church.
.....In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials are made in Mass Offerings to the Church of St. Mary’s. Mass envelopes will be available at the funeral home.
.....Whetsel Funeral Service is honored to serve the family of James H. Brenner.
…..For additional obituary information and online condolences visit: www.whetselfuneralservice.com

24. RITA LOUISE WARD (JAMES MICHAEL, MICHAEL JAMES, JAMES), b. September 12, 1926 Gary, Lake, Indiana; m. BURL LOUIS LEAVELL, September 30, 1950 Elwood, Madison, Indiana. Rita died 20 Feb 1999 in Elyria, Lorain, Ohio, USA. See the Leavell genealogy on this site for Burl's history.

Notes for RITA LOUISE ANN WARD:
.....Rita was born with a bad cleft palate and hare lip, resulting in almost immediate surgery to enable her to drink from a bottle. When she was in kindergarten, a muscle from her leg was grafted onto her upper lip to repair the harelip. She was very restless--from birth, Rita was a tomboy--so her mother put her on the front steps to get some fresh air, warning her sternly not to move or stand up. When Edna looked out the window a short time later, she was horrified to see Rita furiously pedaling her tricycle down the block, racing a little boy! Rita remembers that she wanted to prove she could beat him even with stitches in her leg.
.....Although she was to have 24 operations before she was twenty--many of the later surgeries to correct mistakes done earlier--life was not a tragedy for her. Her parents were happy together. Aunt Eunice always said Jim Ward was one of the most beautiful human beings she ever met, the sweetest man in the world. On weekends, Edna would peel potatoes while Jim made a pot roast, telling the girls he made such good gravy because he'd been the chief cook for Barnum & Bailey Circus for thirty years, and they believed it! The girls were never spanked by their parents. Jim had a quick Irish temper and was afraid he would hurt them, though the temper cooled quickly. Their only spanking came when Edna was quarantined and her best friend Vivian Lebo was watching the girls. Mary Jane, Rita, and Beverly Lebo were playing behind a Murphy bed--forbidden to them since it was dangerous if the bed should snap up or down suddenly--and they were spotted. Vivian smacked their bottoms as each came out.
.....In some ways it was an idyllic time. Rita still remembers little things, the "Straw-berries!" cry of the fruit peddlers, the way Edna stood over the heat register rubbing her hands and shivering (she was always cold), listening to the radio. Once Rita was so distressed by the plight of Little Orphan Annie, trapped on a burning bridge, that Jim turned the radio off and said she couldn't listen any more if she got that upset. She'd have nightmares. She had to beg and cry to get the radio back on. Little Orphan Annie might be optional listening, but the whole family had to sit and listen in absolute silence to Father Coughlin's weekly broadcasts from Detroit.
.....Rita's nickname from Jim was "Skinny," while Mary Jane was "Chubby." He'd chant, "Chubby, Chubby, two-by-four, can't get through the kitchen door." Ironically, Mary Jane grew to be slender, while Rita was overweight! Where Rita was a complete tomboy, Mary Jane was neat and feminine. Jim would stop on the walk as he returned from work and say sadly, "Just once I'd like to come home, Rita, and find you not hanging upside down in a tree."
.....Once Jim took them to the circus, where they shook hands with Tom Mix and petted his horse. Around 1933, he took them to the Chicago World's Fair, a big deal; they took a train there, and rode their first elevator. We have a picture he snapped of the girls in a little car ride at the fair.
.....Although they were devout Catholics, the girls went to public school for kindergarten and first grade. Times were hard, so hard that there wasn't even enough money to feed the nuns, so the Catholic schools were shut down. Rita can remember her father calling her to the window to watch a ragged family pick through their trash, looking for scraps of food. "Never forget this," he told her.
.....The family moved to Gary, IN, where Jim worked in the mill. The streets on the east side were named after states; those on the west after Presidents. First they lived on Pennsylvania, then possibly McKinley. Tom Ward was on Tyler St. then. When they moved to Glen Park, the girls attended St. Mark's School.
.....The house they rented on the east side on Pennsylvania St. had a curved back walk with moss roses, planted by Edna. When local folk got a little money, as Jimmy did, they moved to the West side. From Van Buren, the girls could cut through an empty lot and go two or three blocks to school, but Pennsylvania St. was a long walk to school, and Mary Jane always cried. They had to cross Broadway, which was a fairly busy street. Once Mary Jane fell, tore her stockings, got a bloody knee, and had to go home.
.....When Rita was pregnant with her first child, she and her sister went back to Van Buren St. to tour their house. It had a garage, attic, basement, little front porch, two bedrooms, living room, and kitchen. It was near the railroad tracks; once they found a stray dog by the tracks and lovingly picked out the many burrs and combed it, but Jim wouldn't let them keep it.
.....Edna was a fanatic about cleaning and health. She made the girls take cod liver oil every day--but she bribed them a penny to do it. Rita was very impressed the first time she saw Edna struggling to force herself to swallow it, too.
.....Mary Jane always got car-sick, a trait she passed on to her own children. One year they put on their new Easter dresses and took the trolley car to Hook's drug store in Gary to visit Paul Lebo, Vivian's husband, a pharmacist. Jim bought chocolate milk for Rita and a strawberry milkshake, her favorite, for Mary Jane. Of course, she threw up on the trolley ride home. "Don't tell your mother!" Jim warned, frantically wiping her off.
.....There was a cool basement in that house, and on hot days when he worked a bad shift (11 a.m. to 7 p.m.) Jim slept there to stay cool. On other days, the girls played house in a corner there marked off with a chalk doorway and chalk sidewalk.
.....On Sunday afternoons, they'd go for a walk to pick out a pint or quart of hand-dipped ice cream to go with leftovers for Sunday dinner, since the big meal that day had been lunch--fried chicken or pot roast with carrots and potatoes, eaten around noon, after church. For dessert at lunch, there would be cake baked on Saturday, since they kept the Sabbath pretty much work-free. Each week, the girls took turns picking out the flavor--Mary Jane ALWAYS chose strawberry. When they were older, the girls were given ice cream cones.
.....On Good Fridays, they spent three hours of silence in honor of Christ's death. To kill time one year, the girls went for a walk. Mary Jane, who had no sense of direction, got lost and began sobbing, but hard-hearted Rita piously refused to break the silence to tell her where they were. Rita always scolded her bickering children with righteous remarks like, "I never fought with my sister," but once let slip that she had hit Mary Jane over the head with a croquet mallet. When it was pointed out that this was fighting, she widened her eyes innocently and gasped, "But she was cheating!"
.....There was a big sand dune at the end of the street where they played for hours. Since they were right on the lake, the sand was pretty damp. They would dig out the shape of a car and "drive," or make pies and cakes of sand. Once they picked neighbors' tulips to decorate their "cakes" and got quite a scolding.
.....Their proud parents paid for dancing lessons. Rita liked Ruby Keeler, while Mary Jane wanted to emulate a blonde hoofer, perhaps Joan Blondell. They paid fifty cents a lesson, and Edna supervised dance practice. When they took up ballet, they were so awkward that Jim always had to leave the room, because he couldn't keep a straight face. The year their father would die, the girls rented Halloween parade costumes from their dance teacher, and Rita dressed in a Russian Cossack outfit, boots and all.
.....When Rita was kindergarten age or younger, she stood on the curb watching "big boys" of 10 to 12 playing baseball in the street. A ball hit her in the eye, giving her an immense swollen black eye, and Jim made her stay awake all night in case she had a concussion. July 2, 1984, she remembered that when an ophthalmologist asked, "When were you hit in that eye?" Her mother made her stand behind the sidewalk after that!
.....Girls then wore their hair shingled in the back, so they got haircuts at the barber shop with Jimmy. Later, after Edna died, they would get a "marcel" at a lady's home nearby--it was more-or-less done with a curling iron.
.....When Rita was in kindergarten or first grade, the family took the train to Isabelle BRADY Mattingly's funeral. The family always believed that it was on the return trip that Edna caught scarlet fever. This led to rheumatic fever that so weakened her heart that she couldn't even walk up stairs.
.....Edna was always very particular about the house and insisted that the girls eat balanced meals, so she always made Rita eat cereal, which she hated. One morning Edna didn't make Rita eat it. That afternoon, when Mary Jane and Rita came home from school, they found it quarantined. The doctor gave them shots and sent them to Mrs. Vivian Lebo, Edna's Protestant friend, while Jim roomed at a local boarding house. On Mother's Day, Rita put plants on Edna's window-sill and waved to her. Edna died May 16, 1936, age 31. Rita was eating a ball-bat sucker when she was told her mother was dead: a hard, light-colored caramel on a stick. She could never eat one after that.
.....Since the girls were so young, Mary Antonia WARD moved in with them to protect the reputation of their young white housekeeper, Ethel Roundtree. Jim jokingly called her "Ethel Roundhouse." She married Mount Vernon Johnson, also white.
.....After Edna died, the girls were given a white spitz named "Corky" after Shirley Temple's dog. Corky was sired by the Lebos’ white spitz stud, "Sugar." Jim loved animals, and his dad kept a tiny Boston Bull terrier or pug. Jimmy also bought them ducks for Easter. They named them Ducky and Wucky and kept them in the garage, but the ducks didn't live long before dying of over-eating, just long enough for a car ride on the girls' laps.
.....Rita always wanted a doll house. That Christmas, Jimmy bought a lovely one for Beverly Lebo that Rita had lusted after; it was the year she began to suspect there was no Santa Claus. Mary Jane got a Shirley Temple doll that Rita wanted, and she got a brunette doll. Vivian made doll clothes for them, and Rita also got a big radio.
.....Rita, about this time, had several unrecognized attacks of appendicitis, one the morning of her First Communion in May, 1926. Edna had chosen the girls' dresses and greatly looked forward to this day, so the family blamed Rita's tears and upset stomach on emotional stress, understandable with her mother freshly dead. Another bout came that summer, when she was at Grandma Brady's and fed pancakes, which she disliked. There were lots of people eating and going in and out. Everyone blamed it on overeating, since every time they looked up there was "another pancake in front of her." No one realized it was her first and only pancake. The final attack narrowly missed being tragic. She remembers lying in bed hearing them discuss giving her either an enema or castor oil. Not wanting either, she faked being asleep; luckily, since either might have ruptured the swollen appendix. When she awoke, she was feverish. Rita remembers seeing the doctor standing at the foot of her bed. He wrapped her in a blanket and took her to the hospital by car. The appendix was removed in the same month that the Duke of Windsor abdicated. As she improved, she would play "Hotel;" she would ring the bell, and if they weren't too busy a nurse would come and Rita would "check her in."
.....Rita came home to find that boisterous Corky had been shipped to Bloomington. She and Mary Jane and Mary Ward took the train to spend Christmas in Bloomington with the Lebos, which upset the Wards. That Christmas, at Jim's request, Vivian Lebo told them about sex, and they found out there was no Santa.
.....In the fall of 1936, the Halloween Rita was a Cossack, Jim and the girls visited Elwood. As they left, Jim told the family, "I'll be back for St. Patrick's Day"--and he was, but in his casket. Anna WARD Williams remembered he was in the kitchen, about to go pick up the girls from the Lebo home, when he put his arms around her to say goodbye; she never saw him alive again.
.....Twice before he'd gotten pneumonia, possibly from going into cold air after the heat of the steel mill. Then he and Mary Jane got the flu. He came out of the hot mill in early March, hot, sweating, without a jacket, and got chilled. Usually on Saturdays he took his girls to rollerskating lessons, but this time he was sick in bed. Disappointed, they began crying, and Jim rose from the sickbed to take them.
.....Knowing he was dying, he asked the nurses to move the oxygen tent and equipment, not wanting to scare the girls. They came to his hospital bed by the window, but weren't allowed to touch him. Jim told them he was going to Heaven to be with Mother. "Always be good girls." He died after midnight on Thursday, 16 March 1937, just ten months after Edna.
.....Anna WARD Williams said the hardest thing she ever did was go tell Papa that Jim had died. The Helmses had a phone and came early in the morning to tell Anna. Rita and Mary Jane, his daughters, were next door that evening, and Rita knew something was up. The next morning, Vivian Lebo, their mother's best friend, told the girls their father was dead. "Papa" (Michael J. Ward), according to Anna, said, "Well, what about Rita?" the first thing after learning of the death. Rita remembers giving toys away because they couldn't bring them back.
.....So popular was he that his Polish and Hungarian co-workers offered to take in his daughters. Once Dai Richardson came to the back door of the Williams home and knocked. "Are you treating Jim Ward's girls right?" he demanded. He had grown up in Elwood, best friends with Jim. He was Welsh. Anna WARD Williams told him, "Joe treats them better than he does his own." In 1984, she reminded Rita how Joe took them to Indianapolis and rode up and down on the escalator with them, something he'd never have done for his children; how he took her to the dentist to have an abscessed tooth pulled and she threw up on him all the way home (she'd eaten doughnuts for breakfast even though she was supposed to fast because of the anesthetic).
.....Jim had asked the girls whom they wished to live with, and they chose Vivian Lebo. He promised to leave instructions to that effect in his safe deposit box. His mother never admitted finding such instructions.
.....Tom Ward arranged for the sale of the house, furnishings and all, so there are no mementos of that early time. The state appointed a Gary bank the legal guardian of the girls, and a bitter wrangle broke out between the Bradys and Wards. Edna's sister Angela arranged for the girls to go to St. Joseph's Academy outside Tipton. Edna had been schooled there, and Bernard B. Brady, her father, planted the trees lining the drive. They would live with the Wheatleys on weekends. But Tess Ward refused; she didn't care much for children, but she wanted the insurance money.
.....Jim's $5,000 policy provided the girls with clothes, hospitalization, eyeglasses, etc. and after Michael Ward's death the family lived on $30 a month from that policy. Rita's big radio, a Christmas gift, was the only one in the house.
.....Mary Jane was docile, resembled the Wards, and on the surface got along with Tess, though she hated her life there; but rambunctious Rita resembled the Bradys. Michael Ward controlled his wife and was kind to the girls, but his son's death devastated him and he died a month later.
.....Because of the temporary bitterness, the girls had to sneak over to the Lebo home by pretending to visit families on the Brady side. Often, after clashes with the autocratic Tess, Rita would move in with Angela BRADY Wheatley or another relative until things cooled down.
.....The "poor little Ward girls" often spent vacations with the Bradys. They would split up, because the families were so large, and Mary Jane went to the lake with the Williamses, while Rita went to the Wheatley's. Angela, her godmother, often said that "Rita, of all my children," looked and acted the most like her. From the Wheatleys, they would walk along the railroad tracks each night to Aunt Jane ROONEY's house to pick up fresh milk from her cows. Each night, the Wheatley and Mattingly families got on their knees in a circle to say the rosary. One year, Rita broke out in measles from the Williams' kids and had to stay over.
.....Grandma Tess would buy 20 cents worth of ham for Sunday dinner for five. Often supper consisted of pancakes or French toast. For lunch, Angela made cocoa syrup to pour over hot bread. Catholic school started with Mass every morning, so they ate breakfast afterward; half the class would study religion while the other half breakfasted on peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches, without beverages.
.....Margaret Ward used to give the girls a quarter each week: a dime each for a movie, and five cents for school paper.
.....Corky, still a puppy when Jimmy Ward died, was promptly thrown outside. It was a shock for the high-strung pedigreed dog; he went wild and began snapping at kids. For this, he was banished to the Mattingly farm that summer. Unfortunately, one warm day Corky swam in the water trough, then laid in the sunny wheat field for a nap. The combine ran over him, chopping off two legs, and Corky had to be shot. Every time the girls came to visit, they were told Corky was off chasing rabbits or hunting with another dog, until finally someone broke the news to them.
.....Margaret Ward bought a light blue taffeta formal with elastic sleeves and a cameo at the throat for Rita's first formal in 1941, costing either $3.98 or $4.98.
.....Sis Williams, Tom Williams, and Rita used to hike to the cemetery along Duck Crick, lugging peanut butter sandwiches and yelling at the younger kids to make sure they didn't drown.
.....Daddy Joe always sat in his chair listening to baseball and the Lone Ranger on the radio; later he watched them on T.V. Mary Jane and Rita would come downstairs in the latest wild high school outfit, and he would silently shake his head.
.....Bob Wheatley used to tease Rita with worms, which she hated. She stood on a toilet screaming as he shoved worms under the door! Other times, he waved crawdads in her face.
.....One May, the nuns urged the kids to bring in flowers for the Virgin Mary. Tom Williams and Bob Wheatley filled a wagon with flowers from the cemetery to put at the feet of a statue of Mary, explaining, "Nobody wanted 'em. We found 'em." The nuns sternly sent them back.
.....The summer of her Junior year, Rita went to live with Tom and Ann (Kserich) Ward so she could undergo plastic surgery sessions in Chicago. During one operation at Mercy Hospital there, as she was waiting for the topical anesthetic to take effect, Rita had a severe reaction to the cocaine. She had trouble breathing, and got help by holding up her hands, which had hardened into rigid claws. The doctor gave her a shot, wheeled her back to her room, and ordered oxygen and a 24-hour private duty nurse. He also sent for a priest to give her the last rites. They kept telling her to keep breathing, when all she wanted was for them to leave her alone. Years later, people in the hospital still remembered her as the one with the severe reaction on the operating table. By the 1980's, doctors had a hard time believing her when she reported an allergy to cocaine, because it was no longer used in hospitals and was thought of solely as an illegal street drug. After suggesting she must mean Novocaine, or Procaninol, they'd shrug and say, "We'll just have to keep the pushers away." It really used to irritate her!
.....When Mary Jane was a senior, Rita returned to Wendell Wilkie High in Elwood for one year and graduated with her. Still just 19, Rita was third in her class and made the National Honor Society (despite a KKK teacher who tried to make her either eat meat during Lent or be failed for refusing to do so!).
.....Rita married Burl Louis LEAVELL on 30 September 1950, and they moved to Anderson, Indiana; then to Syracuse, New York; Sterling Heights, Warren, Michigan; finally to Elyria, Lorain County, Ohio in 1967, where she died in February of 1999. See the Leavell genealogy pages on this website.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION (1929-1940)
Francetta Smith
.....I interviewed a lady named Rita (Ward) Leavell. She is the mother of Green Acres tutor Miss J. Leavell. She came from an Irish Catholic family in Elwood, Indiana. It was a tiny town. It had a “boom” around 1900-1910. It was very racist. No blacks were allowed be seen staying there overnight. There was only one Jewish family. Ku Klux Klan was well known to march down the main street and burn crosses on the lawns of the Catholics.
.....She was born with a hare lip and cleft palate. When she was nine her mother died of scarlet fever and when she 10 her father died of pneumonia which means she became an orphan but she still lived with the family. She had 20 opperations before she was 21 and some of them were so new that she was written up in medical books. On one of the last operations she found out she was allergic to cocaine when they used it as an anesthetic on her lip.
.....Rita's mother was a “flapper.” She wore “short” skirts and won Charleston dance contests with her brother Harold. She went to a business college (unheard of for women).
.....People had fun in many different ways. For instance, Jazz was the music people listened to in those days. They were played in big bands, which didn't play guitars. They played trombones, trumpets, piano, drums, clarinets, and saxophones. The big band she liked was Jack Teagarden. Some of his sons were Basin Street Blues, Boogie Woogie, and China Boy.
.....Another thing they did for fun was going to town on Saturday nights, playing marbles and Chinese checkers, hide-go-seek. The other types of fun include Rudolph Valentino silent movies shown in Tipton, a nearby town at a theater owned by her grandfather Bernard Brady. It was next door to a bordello.
.....There was no television, but there was radio. Rita liked to listen to “Little Orphan Annie” on the radio and watch Gene Autry, the singing cowboy, in “Phantom Ranch,” a serial at the movies. When Rita had appendicitis, she made her father watch and tell her about what had happened each week while she was in the hospital.
.....Some of the books she enjoyed were Gone With the Wind and Anne of Green Gables.
.....Rita went to Catholic church every Sunday and she prayed the rosary on her knees once a week. Church lasted about 2-3 hours.
.....Some of Rita's worst times were when there was no money and times were hard. You had to make your own clothes. If you didn't make them you wore hand-me-downs. There were no jobs available and there was no welfare, no Unemployment, and no ADC and no Social Security. Franklin D. Roosevelt started the Works Progress Administration to give people jobs but folks called it “We Piddle Along.”: WPA did stuff like dig ditches, organize county records, do county histories, make roads. The money they earned kept people alive.
.....She remembers her father telling her to look out the window, and as she looked she saw people digging in their garbage cans outside her house, eating their garbage to survive. That was one of the worst things she ever saw. She promised herself she would do better than that.
.....(Some types of clothes that were worn.) No panyhose or even regular socks. It was horrible. They had to wear brown stockings, thick, thigh-high, with a rubber band to hold them up. There were also knee length white underpants (boys wore long johns). They also wore undershirts. Girls wore dresses. No pants. Boys wore pants and ties to school and to church.
.....Some people that influenced her was her teachers. She enjoyed school. Some of her favorite classes were History. She loved history. English was another of her favorites. She disliked math and science. She studied them at Wendell L. Wilkie High, named after a loser. He ran for Preident, but FDR won. The school was located 10 long roads away from her house, where they was no bus transportation. She walked each morning. Even when she turned eighteen, she was not considered as an adult, until she was the age of 21. That's when you could vote. When she turned 21 a crippled WWII vet ran for a political job on a reform ticket. That means the other guy was crooed and he was going to fix things. She voted for him. He turned out to be so crooked he was kicked out of office!
In My Opinion
.....I learned a lot from Rita! I wouldn't have wanted to be there in the times of the Depression. It really shows that times do change over the years. For example music, books, clothes, and more. I think that the children of the world today have it a lot easier than they did in those days.
…..I really enjoyed doing this kind of a report, and you should consider doing them more often.

Name: James Edward Green
Service Info.: CPL US ARMY KOREA
Birth Date: 21 Jun 1928
Death Date: 21 Mar 1998
Cemetery: St Joseph Cemetery
Cemetery Address: Elwood, IN 46036

Elwood Call-Leader (March 21, 1998)
James E. Green
.....James Edward Green, 69, 1421 S. H St., died at 5:25 p.m. Saturday at St. Vincent Mercy Hospital.
.....Born June 21, 1928, in Elwood, he was the son of John and Alta Heflin Green. He was married July 3, 1948 to Mary Jane Ward. She survives.
.....He retired from Guide Lamp in 1985 and had worked as a mechanic. He was a graduate of Elwood High School in 1946 and was a veteran of the United States Army. He also was a member of the East Main Street Christian church. His other memberships included the United Auto Workers 663 and a life membership in the Elwood Elk's Lodge 368.
.....Others surviving are one daughter Joanne Amick of Frankton; two sons, Michael Green and Patrick Green of Elwood; one sister, Judith Ann Holt of Carmel; two brothers, John Richard Green of Long Beach, Calif., and Dan Green of Elwood; and four grandchildren.
.....Services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Copher & Fesler Funeral Home with Father Kenneth Raczek officiating. Burial will be in St. Joseph's Cemetery.
.....Friends may call from 2 to 5 and 6 to 8 Tuesday at the funeral home. Elk's memorial services are at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
.....Memorial contributions may be made to Riley Hospital for Children, Telethon Office, 702 Bamhill Drive, Indianapolis, Ind. 46202.

From Joanne Green Amick:
.....I drove mom to the Tipton cemetery on Wednesday, October 1, 2014, a beautiful fall evening. She hadn't been there to visit her parents' graves in years. She maneuvered her motorized scooter about 10 feet from the back of the wheelchair van to her parents' headstones. Mom asked me to pull a few stray weeds around the grave markers, and even had me re-position her mother's headstone because it was crooked by about an inch...most likely bumped by a lawnmower. As I stood there with mom, she began to reminisce and tell stories about her parents that I had never heard before. She said that her mother, Edna (Brady) Ward was ill for quite some time. She developed a bad heart from contracting scarlet fever years before (she had scarlet fever when mom was three and was considered a semi-invalid for four years). Mom was only seven years old and her sister, Rita, was nine when Edna was hospitalized for just one night at Mercy Hospital in Gary, Indiana. Mom and Rita were not allowed to visit their mother in the hospital because they were too young. That evening, their daddy came home from the hospital and sat both of the girls down. He told them that their mother had died and they would never see her again, except in heaven. He told them to be good girls too. Mom proudly told me that she always was a good girl because of her father's request. Innocently, mom asked her daddy if he would ever get married again. Mom always felt guilty for asking him that. Mom remembered seeing her 31 year old mother lying in the casket at the funeral home, and she told her daddy that she wanted to see if her mom was wearing shoes. Somebody managed to open the lower half of the casket to reveal, to mom's relief, that Edna was wearing shoes.
.....Less than a year later, in the spring of 1937, their daddy became ill with pneumonia. He had worked in the steel mills of Gary for years, which likely had a negative effect on his lungs. Sadly, her father, James Ward, died at age 32 that spring after his third round of pneumonia. Mom told me that penicillin was discovered in 1937 but not soon enough to help her daddy. Prior to his death, James wrote a letter to Edna's parents telling them how absolutely wonderful their daughter was and how good of a mother and wife she was. He thanked them for raising such a great daughter. Mom still has that hand written letter.
.....While living in Gary, Mom remembers the city celebrating its 25th anniversary. They lived in a rented house that had a basement, a furnace and a wash tub. Mom and Rita's Aunt, a nun named Sister Mary, came to live with them after Edna died. Then after their daddy passed away, they moved from their home in Gary to Elwood to live with their Grandma Ward at 13th and South G Street (the same house their father was born in) where there was no furnace and no bathroom. Rita soon discovered that she could not get along with Grandma Ward, so she moved in with their Aunt Angela (Brady) Wheately who was a much more patient woman!

http://www.copherfeslermay.com/home/index.cfm?action=public%3Aobituaries.view&o_id=3630684&fh_id=13023
Mary Jane Green
Born: November 05, 1928
Died: March 15, 2016
.....Mary Jane Green, age 87 - a longtime resident of Elwood, passed away peacefully on March 15, 2016 at Community Parkview Care Center in Elwood surrounded by her family following a relatively brief illness. She was born November 5, 1928 in Gary, the daughter of James Michael and Edna M. (Brady) Ward. She attended St. Joseph School and was later a 1946 graduate of Elwood High School. Mary Jane married her high school sweetheart, James Edward Green, on July 3, 1948, and they shared 49 years of marriage together. She was a homemaker all of her life and a devoted member of the St. Joseph Catholic Church. She was a charter member of the Saint Monica Study Club; a member of the Altar and Rosary Society; a member of the National Council of Catholic Women; treasurer of the Alumni Association for the Class of 1946; and a dedicated volunteer at St. Vincent Mercy Hospital beginning in 1972. Mary Jane was very proud of her Irish heritage. She enjoyed playing Bridge, and was active in a community Bridge Card Club. She also enjoyed reading and listening to music. She will especially be remembered as a loving wife, mother, and grandmother and as an outstanding role model.
.....Her family includes 2 sons, Michael (wife Joyce) Green of Elwood and Patrick (wife Angela) Green of Elwood; daughter, Joanne (husband Rob) Amick of Frankton; 5 grandchildren, Andrea (husband Brian) Ballinger, Brian Green, Miranda Green, Alex Amick, and Evan Amick; 2 step-grandchildren, Andrew Walling and Chad (wife Joanna) Walling; and numerous nieces and nephews.
.....She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, James E. Green who died March 21, 1998; and her sister Rita L. Leavell in 1999.
.....A funeral mass celebrating Mary Jane’s life will be conducted at 10:00 AM on Saturday, March 19, 2016 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elwood with Father Dan Duff officiating. Burial will follow in St. Joseph Cemetery in Elwood. Visitation for family and friends will be held from 2 to 8 PM on Friday, March 18, 2016 at Copher-Fesler-May Funeral Home in Elwood, and will include a Rosary Service at 7:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to the St. Joseph Church Building Fund; Elwood Animal Shelter; or Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation all through the funeral home. Online condolences may be made at copherfeslermay.com.

SERVICES
Visitation
Friday, March 18, 2016
2:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Copher - Fesler - May Funeral Home
415 South Anderson Street
Elwood, Indiana 46036

Funeral Service
Saturday, March 19, 2016
10:00 AM
St. Joseph Catholic Church
1312 South A Street
Elwood, Indiana 46036

Visit the list of Burl Leavell's families.
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