Levi and Clara--Part 2
Some time ago, I wrote the first installment of a series on my grandparents, Levi and Clara Miller--part of a presentation I gave at the reunion in mid-July for their descendants . The first was on their lifespan. This will begin with information on their appearance.
Appearance
Clara was of average height, about the same as her three daughters, Elizabeth, Mary, and Emma. She had a medium-sized frame and was not overweight. At the time of her death at 58, she still had black hair, with very little gray mixed in. I think I remember Levi saying that my cousin Shirley looks more like Clara than anyone else among her granddaughters. Others seem to think he said something similar about Shirley's sister Eileen.
Levi was shorter than most of his boys--perhaps about the same height as Fred, the shortest of his sons. In my memory he was rotund--something that developed after he was deathly ill at the age of 46. He was bald during the time I knew him, at least by his mid-fifties.
Both Levi and Clara wore glasses.
Challenges
Death of her mother. Clara's mother died when she was 13. I don't know whether she spoke of this often, but her younger sister Edna told me once about her feelings after her father remarried--to a woman who brought her own children into the combined home. She especially drew close to her father and her older sisters during that time.
A big family with children close together in age. All 12 children were born in the span of 15 1/2 years. The year Levi and Clara both turned 26, their sixth child was born. My dad, David, was number six. He was born when the twins just ahead of him in the family were two. Clara must have yearned for her mother's help and advice during these years.
Raising a family in very difficult economic times. In 1929, when the Great Depression began, they had seven children, with the oldest eight years old. During the summer, often some of the children (as young as six) were sent to live with relatives to help them during the week--from Monday morning to Saturday evening. My mother heard and relayed the story that once when someone had to decline when Levi or Clara asked them about hiring one of the children, Levi or Clara responded by asking if they could at least take the child and feed him, even if they couldn't pay for his labor. I can only imagine how difficult this was for Levi and Clara--and for the children, as I heard at the reunion and afterward. Willis remembers his dad having to retrieve from Willis seven cents that he had already given him to pay for something at school. They were on their way to town, and Levi looked at his list and calculated that he could not possibly buy what they needed without that money.
Health Problems. Clara had pneumonia and had fluid drawn off her lungs during a hospital stay. This happened when Paul was the baby. He stayed with his aunt Rebecca's family (Will Millers) and was a favorite cousin after that. He was told when he was older that they let him go there because their baby, Abraham, had died. Presumably they were eager to have a baby in the family, if only temporarily. My memory is a little foggy here, but I believe Mary (maybe three or four years old) said at the reunion that she remembers going out onto the porch to cry when her mother went to the hospital. People died of pneumonia in those days (before penicillin), and she feared that her mother would die. Clara also had goiter surgery at some point, possibly in about 1945, after the family moved out west.
One day when Levi was 46, he was on the road somewhere with his horses after the weather had suddenly turned very cold. To stay warm, he got out of the buggy or wagon, and ran beside the horses. In Willis' words, "he was never the same after that" because of heart problems. I'll relay here what I heard from Levi's children at the reunion. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable about former and current medical terms and conditions can help clarify things.
He had a rheumatic heart, and was filling up with fluid. Dr. Barnes, who was caring for him, told everyone in the "beef ring" one evening that he didn't expect Levi to survive the night. Harry, who was serving as a volunteer for MCC in helping rebuild in France after the war, got a trans-Atlantic flight to St. Louis, and came home from there by train when he got the word. Levi asked for and received anointing, and he began to recover. He was probably somewhat less active after this, but he returned to normal life as a farmer and head of the household.
Earlier, Levi was known for his physical prowess. He once shocked wheat for Will Miller, who was so pleased with his work that he paid him double--because he accomplished as much as was normally expected of two men.
Next: Personality and Character
Appearance
Clara was of average height, about the same as her three daughters, Elizabeth, Mary, and Emma. She had a medium-sized frame and was not overweight. At the time of her death at 58, she still had black hair, with very little gray mixed in. I think I remember Levi saying that my cousin Shirley looks more like Clara than anyone else among her granddaughters. Others seem to think he said something similar about Shirley's sister Eileen.
Levi was shorter than most of his boys--perhaps about the same height as Fred, the shortest of his sons. In my memory he was rotund--something that developed after he was deathly ill at the age of 46. He was bald during the time I knew him, at least by his mid-fifties.
Both Levi and Clara wore glasses.
Challenges
Death of her mother. Clara's mother died when she was 13. I don't know whether she spoke of this often, but her younger sister Edna told me once about her feelings after her father remarried--to a woman who brought her own children into the combined home. She especially drew close to her father and her older sisters during that time.
A big family with children close together in age. All 12 children were born in the span of 15 1/2 years. The year Levi and Clara both turned 26, their sixth child was born. My dad, David, was number six. He was born when the twins just ahead of him in the family were two. Clara must have yearned for her mother's help and advice during these years.
Raising a family in very difficult economic times. In 1929, when the Great Depression began, they had seven children, with the oldest eight years old. During the summer, often some of the children (as young as six) were sent to live with relatives to help them during the week--from Monday morning to Saturday evening. My mother heard and relayed the story that once when someone had to decline when Levi or Clara asked them about hiring one of the children, Levi or Clara responded by asking if they could at least take the child and feed him, even if they couldn't pay for his labor. I can only imagine how difficult this was for Levi and Clara--and for the children, as I heard at the reunion and afterward. Willis remembers his dad having to retrieve from Willis seven cents that he had already given him to pay for something at school. They were on their way to town, and Levi looked at his list and calculated that he could not possibly buy what they needed without that money.
Health Problems. Clara had pneumonia and had fluid drawn off her lungs during a hospital stay. This happened when Paul was the baby. He stayed with his aunt Rebecca's family (Will Millers) and was a favorite cousin after that. He was told when he was older that they let him go there because their baby, Abraham, had died. Presumably they were eager to have a baby in the family, if only temporarily. My memory is a little foggy here, but I believe Mary (maybe three or four years old) said at the reunion that she remembers going out onto the porch to cry when her mother went to the hospital. People died of pneumonia in those days (before penicillin), and she feared that her mother would die. Clara also had goiter surgery at some point, possibly in about 1945, after the family moved out west.
One day when Levi was 46, he was on the road somewhere with his horses after the weather had suddenly turned very cold. To stay warm, he got out of the buggy or wagon, and ran beside the horses. In Willis' words, "he was never the same after that" because of heart problems. I'll relay here what I heard from Levi's children at the reunion. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable about former and current medical terms and conditions can help clarify things.
He had a rheumatic heart, and was filling up with fluid. Dr. Barnes, who was caring for him, told everyone in the "beef ring" one evening that he didn't expect Levi to survive the night. Harry, who was serving as a volunteer for MCC in helping rebuild in France after the war, got a trans-Atlantic flight to St. Louis, and came home from there by train when he got the word. Levi asked for and received anointing, and he began to recover. He was probably somewhat less active after this, but he returned to normal life as a farmer and head of the household.
Earlier, Levi was known for his physical prowess. He once shocked wheat for Will Miller, who was so pleased with his work that he paid him double--because he accomplished as much as was normally expected of two men.
Next: Personality and Character
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
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