Genealogy Forum NEWS
April, 1999
TILL DEATH DO US PART
The Story of George Mello and Louise Blackburn of CA
Submitted by: GFS CheriM@aol.com
When I was a kid and had to do the family tree project for history, I thought it was pretty neat. Later, my grandmother, Louise (Blackburn) Mello, sent me a little folder of outlines and tidbits for my Girl Scout badge. In it was a story of how 2 of my 4 great-grandparents died 6 months apart. They really loved each other.
That’s nothing compared to the deaths of my paternal grandparents.
After 57 years of marriage, my grandparents, George Mello and Louise Laura (Blackburn) Mello had traveled extensively, been active in the Knights of Columbus, and had prosperous lives. George inherited the diabetes. He was able to control it by diet and exercise. Louise had an intense itching inside her stomach area. It would not go away. She went to the doctor.
It was pancreatic cancer. It was spread throughout. The only way to rid of it was chemotherapy and radiation. However, the treatments made Louise sick. With 2 treatments left to go, George said enough of this. He was tired of seeing his wife, so rail thin, be so sick. They ran tests. The cancer was gone.
She was still quite thin, and on the weak side. But she was able to get around. And she was quite sharp tongued. But what worried her was her husband. Being weak, she was unable to drive. She had to rely on her husband. They would go somewhere and come back home. Then, they couldn't go anywhere for days. George could not find the keys. He was beginning to be so forgetful. She was so worried.
Returning from the market one day, my grandma was getting the groceries out of the trunk of the car. She slipped and fell. She was rushed to the hospital. They wanted to operate, but the cancer had returned. There was nothing they could do. "She has 2 weeks," they told George. "And if by some reason she makes it out of the hospital, she will be bedridden and will have to be placed in a nursing home."
George did not like that. He loved her very much. What would he do without Louise? The doctors asked what he wanted to do for life support for his wife. This was too much for him. They called my dad, George, Jr. My dad finally got my grandpa to agree to making her comfortable.
Comfortable consists of morphine and delusions. I think George only visited her once. His brother tried to get him to visit. The people from the church tried to get him to visit. He couldn't bear to see his beloved wife like that. So the church folks visited her. Living 2 hours away, my father would visit on Saturdays, and I would visit on Sundays.
I took one day off in the middle of the week to visit my grandpa. He would tell me the same story 5 times. He had left the milk out all morning long and had forgot to put it away. I was worried. My dad went out the following week. My grandpa did not look good. He was rather yellow. He had a check-up with his doctor for the diabetes, but had forgotten his appointment. My dad called the Hospice people. The nurse remembered him. She came right away to the mobile home.
He had jaundice. He was taken to the hospital. He had a little colon problem. Many older people develop this condition and it was nothing to worry about, the doctors said. He had a little colostomy bag, and as healthy as he was, he would heal and be back to his old self.
Except my grandpa didn't want to heal. He had been married 57 years. He was 79. What would he do without his wife? He stopped breathing. They put him on a respirator. The hospital said it was most unusual. Colostomies are regular procedures. Nothing out of the ordinary. "I hate to say this," the nurse told me. "There is no reason for his condition. It's just like he has given up the will to live."
He was weaned off of the respirator. We all thought he was getting better. He died a few days later.
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"Where are my glasses? Why don't they give me my glasses? I can't see what I'm doing" my grandma complained. She took another bite of food, although it was a bit big. She coughed. "I don't know who is trying to kill me more. Me, or them." I started laughing. What a sense of humor! "I'll see if I can get your glasses for you," I said. A few minutes later, my grandma started to tell me about the pictures and flies on the wall. There were none. It was the morphine.
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"What do I tell my mother?" my father asked the doctor. "Do I tell her that her husband has passed on?" The doctor thought. "Yes," he said, "go on and tell her. She has lived a month beyond our expectations. Honestly, she is down to 79 pounds. The cancer is all over. I don't know how she has done this. Or what she is still living for. Tell her that George has died so she may go in peace."
My dad honestly thought he had caught her in a lucid moment. He explained to her that "Daddy" (as my grandma called her husband) had died. Louise seemed to understand. She asked for something nice to wear for the funeral. My father obliged her and bought her a nice bed jacket.
The day of the funeral came. My sister had flown down from Washington (state) with the baby, Kristan. After the funeral, we stopped by the nursing home. We asked my grandma if her sister and others had stopped by. She said they hadn't. I went outside to get another chair. As I came back in, my grandma was holding her first great-grandchild. "Let's see, now," my grandma said. "That was your great-great grandpoppy that died," she told baby Kristan. Great-great grandpoppy? Oh no, my grandma was having flashbacks to her father's funeral! She didn't understand that George had died after all.
Another 3 weeks passed, with my father and I going out on Saturdays and Sundays. One Saturday, he could not make it. So he came with me on Sunday instead. A very lucid Sunday for my grandma.
"Where's Daddy?" Louise asked my dad. "Tell him to get dressed and get down here. It's been the longest since I have seen him." A nurse came in to attend to the other patient.
"Mama," my dad started. "Mama, do you remember how I told you Daddy got sick? Do you remember that?" "Yes," said my grandma. "He was in the hospital too. Do you remember?" "Yes," said my grandma. "I don't know how to tell you this, Mama.....but Daddy died."
"Oh? Oh?" my grandma said. She looked confused. "Louise, honey," the nurse said. "Louise, do you remember that funeral?" "Yes," said my grandma. "Who was that funeral for?" "Daddy," said my grandma. "And what was the name of Daddy?" asked the nurse. "George," my grandma said. "OHH, OHH. She paused for a moment. "I'm tired now," said my grandma. “I want to rest.”
On Monday, my father received a phone call. It didn't look good. My grandma was no longer recognizing her regular nurses and she was slipping fast. They told my father that he may come, but she would not recognize him. As long as she knew someone was taking care of George, she had nothing fear. It was time for her to be reunited with him, only 2 days after realizing he was being taken off by the angels. She died the following day, so that she could be reunited with her most beloved, for eternity.
GEORGE MELLO 1912-1992 LOUISE (BLACKBURN) MELLO 1913-1992
The Marriage of Northwest Ohio
and the Wild Animals of the 1800s
Submitted by:
GFSNance@aol.com
Many years ago, Wild animals like the buffalo, Deer, bear, mink, raccoon, squirrel, wolves and many water animals, roamed Northwest Ohio which means, Lucas, Wood, Fulton, Williams, Hancock, Ottawa, Sandusky, Erie Counties where it was the Black Swamp. Many stories have been told of many family coming here from Carroll and Wayne counties to buy cheap land from President Jackson in the 1820s and 30s in Lucas and Fulton County, which was Wood County back then. They settled around Whitehouse, Ohio, area and around Delta, Ohio. My GGG Grandfather Philip Cripliver bought over 400 acres of land for only $1.25 an acre to farm. This land was spread out over many different townships over the time till he died in 1850. His daughter's husband's family was Mennonite and some of them settled in Fulton County and then came to Lucas County. Back then all those animals roamed around here plentiful along with the Ottawa, Miami, tribes of Indians because of all the animals they could hunt and trap. I even found out that my GGG grandmothers, Rachel and Roseann Shepler's brother Matthias Shepler was a fur trader back then. (because of this my grandmother, Lulu Fowler and Louis Krepleever were third cousins to each other).
There were plenty of small animals like rabbits and mink and squirrel for the Indians to hunt and trap and sell the pelts for and got a lot of money. Nothing of the animal back then was wasted. The skins and hide were tanned and sewn for clothes. the meat cured and eaten. There were uses for the rest of the animal but then I don't want to kill your appetite for tonight's dinner.
Then more whites came into the area and took more trees that the birds used for nesting, for cabins. They cleared more land for farming, which was what most of my mother's ancestors did for a living back then. The Bears left. But then, I found out that back in 1808, My GGG Grandfather Philip Cripliver married a Susannah Bair/Bare/Bear. So there are some Bairs in my genes. Haha.
When we first moved here in Springfield Township of Lucas County, there were even a few fox seen dragging a domestic duck from a neighbor's farm, down the lane to the back for a luncheon date with other foxes. Said one fox to another "Let's do lunch, Sylvia." "Ok, Martha, I will take a run up to that farm and grab a duck, they are just running around up there and no one watches them." So, up the lane she comes without a care in the world, grabs a duck and back down the lane she goes with a nice catch.
I have sat here at my computer in an upstairs room looking out on the fields and woods dreaming of what it was really like back then; trying to find food to eat and feed your family of 12 kids like a lot of my Mennonite-rooted families had (including the BAIRS). In the springtime part of our back field is very low so it fills up with water and there are the same two ducks that come back every year to have a swim in our "accidental pond". I see deer loping across the back fields and in the little Christmas tree orchard a landscape company planted 30 years ago, but never harvested. It has been a haven for wild animals big and small.
In the fall, the deer and rabbits venture out and up to my husbands garden for some treats like cabbage for Peter Rabbit, and some tomatoes and other goodies for Bambi. The birds got my strawberries and peaches from our 3-tree orchard beyond the garden.
Now as to other wild animals still around, there are still plenty of squirrels, rabbits, skunks, possum (that become roadkill on our four-lane highway), deer, which my husband has seen about 20 of them come up from the back in the early morning and cross the road for the woods back across the railroad tracks. Soon that will be filled up with houses from the street a half mile away. so they will probably just stay on our side of the road when that happens.
My biggest pleasure is taking a walk down the lane in the late winter when the snow is still on the ground (or cross-country ski) (you would never expect to see a 5'2" 180 lb. lady ski around here but I do) to meditate down by the brook, a quarter mile, out back and sit on the bridge and watch the tiny waterfall and listen to the water rush out from under the bridge. From the other side of the bridge the brook meanders quietly westward through the quiet woods where a deer might stop and take a drink.
Now to me, this next statement from my husband and others is hard to believe, but they HAVE SEEN coyotes around here yet.
As to this land, animals and nature this area I live in with my husband of 35 years, that we raised our three sons, I will not leave, God, Till Death do I part.
Nancy Meiring aka GFS Nance
Bridging the Years With Songs
Submitted by
GFSJill@aol.com
Have you ever heard a melody (old or new) that made you think about your ancestors? Sometimes an old folk song from the Civil War era (or earlier) will bring someone to mind. I often wonder if my forebearer ever heard it or sang it. Other times a lively jig or strathspey from across the sea (Scotland or Ireland) causes my mind to conjure up the image of my Scottish Presbyterian great grandmother tapping her toes, eyes twinkling. What was she like when she was a young woman? Did she and her husband have any favorite songs when they were young lovers?
Through All Eternity
There's a song I have on tape by a group called Ceili Rain that brings my great grandparents to mind. It's called: "Love Travels." I'll share a portion of the lyrics but first let me set the scene for you . . . .
He is over in America, working as a gardener and groundskeeper. He is labouring in a strange country, saving up for the day when his bride-to-be can cross the ocean and join him. His hands are rough and calloused as he plants flowers and shrubs, getting used to different soils, new people, and foreign ways. He must live up to his people's reputation for thriftiness, making do with as little as possible for his personal needs in order to finance her voyage and their new life together.
She is working too, as a tutor and governess and doesn't get to visit her parents and siblings as much as she'd like to. She hasn't seen him in years and wonders if he still loves her the way she loves him. She's had a photograph taken of herself at a studio in Leith just to send him, and she awaits his next letter with anticipation. Maybe this envelope from America will bear the good news that the time for her to book her passage is at hand.
"So I stand here and gaze across the ocean
Knowing that I may not ever hold you
Quite the way I told you
But the distance won't silence my devotion
'Cause I believe there is still a way to reach out
In my heart there's no doubt
Love travels the miles upon the wings of angels
Love finds you, I swear it's true
I can love you from here -- love you from here
So I stare at the photograph before me
Wonderin' if you still believe I love you
I did what I had to do
And then I look and I swear I saw you smilin'
Heaven makes these tender hearts the strongest
Mine beats for you as long as
Love travels . . .
On moonbeams, on heartstrings
Love makes its way through anything
Love finds you, I swear it's true
I will always be near
'Cause I'll love you from here"
(Lyrics by Bob & Linda Halligan)
After seven long years, Alex and Maggie did finally reunite and marry. Their wedding took place 90 years ago this month at Grosse Pte. Farms, Oakland Co., MI. One of their grandchildren also married in April and you can read their 40th Wedding Anniversary-Reunion here.
Forwarded by
GFSEd@aol.com
You're Someone
Who Means
More To Me
Then Anyone
Could Ever Realize
The ~ Love
In Our Eyes
Deep ~ Within
Our ~ Souls
Forever and Ever
You Will Be
My Heart's ~ Treasure
No Matter How Hard
It Is ~ To Understand
It's Deepest Pleasure
Through All Eternity
© 2 February, 1999
The Eagle of Millerton and Darlene J. Mentz
Words from our heart's, so that we many never part.
Excerpts were taken from the back of my Wife's portrait
Mailed to me with Love, in South East Asia
During the Viet-Nam War
For Further Reading
Forwarded by
GFA Terry, Message Board Manager
Here are some interesting message board links for April:
Marriage Records (and Birth, Death and Divorce Records)
Cemetery Records
Families Who Created Towns
Strange & Unusual Genealogy Happenings
(Historical Links Removed)
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