Wordless Wednesday: William N. Runyan 1860-1885

William N. "Willie" Runyan - b. 25 May 1860 - d. 4 Jun 1885
Brother of my maternal great grandfather, Robert Noah Runyan
Died at age 25 - Buried Spiceland Friends Cemetery - Spiceland, Indiana

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Those Places Thursday: Rockville Road Barber Shop

My maternal grandparents, Lawrence and Fern (Newby) Runyan moved around a lot. Before they were married they both lived in Henry Co., Indiana. After they were married they lived in Marion Co., then Delaware Co., then back to Henry Co., and finally back to Marion Co. again. And that's just what I see in the census. My mother told me of other moves that weren't recorded by the census!

The photo below is of my brothers and I in front of the Barber shop next to the house my grandparents lived in on Rockville road in Indianapolis. It was the last place they lived before moving to Florida to be with us.

Terry (Bob), Lisa, and Mike Wallen August 1953
In front of the Barber shop - corner Rockville Rd./Lynhurst Dr.
Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana

You can barely see in the upper left, the typical barber's pole on the side of the building. The candy striped cement post I am sitting on is one of many that went along the entire store front. There is an alley in front of us between the house and barber shop where my mother is standing to take this photo.

Here's a second photo of just my brothers from a little better angle to see the shop front and the line of cement posts. Brother Mikey would never let loose of that cigar box, he carried it everywhere!

Mike and Terry (Bob) Wallen August 1953
In front of the Barber shop - corner Rockville Rd./Lynhurst Dr.
Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana

This last picture shows my grandparents house and the barber shop as they look today. It was a big disappointment. Progress is ugly.

Their house is now an income tax company and the barber shop is a law office. The house was truly unrecognizable. The front porch has been enclosed and painted that ugly green, there's a large addition to the back of the house that wasn't there, siding has been added, and they've done something to the side where the windows were. The cute little back yard with the garden lined path back to Grandad's tool shed is now a parking lot. You can still see the old barber shop cement posts, now plain white, in this photo and the store front glass looks the same as in the photos above. This building hasn't changed all that much.

Old Rockville road Runyan residence and barber shop building today via Google Earth

That house was were my first, and maybe only, memories of what a basement smells like came from. I loved it and I'll never forget that smell. It was dark, damp, and cool down there, something you northerners take for granted, but a rare experience if you grew up in Florida. My grandmother caught a turquoise blue parakeet in the back yard here. She named him Sassy because he bit her fingers. Then she gave him to us and we had him for a long time.

After my grandparents moved to Florida, true to form, they changed residences at least three or four times, maybe more!

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Newby Farmhouse Restoration, Post-Tornado

In yesterday's blog post I told about the tornado that ransacked my great grandparent's farm in Spiceland, Indiana the night my mother, Janet Runyan, was born. Mom related the events to me many times, just as she had been told them by her mother and her grandparents, Charles and Ida (Trowbridge) Newby. The photos included in that post are the main witness to the extent of the damage inflicted on the house and it's surroundings.

Charles Lee Newby was a carpenter by trade so he took to making repairs right away. He also made a few improvements by enclosing the second story side balcony and enlarging the shed so he could park his car and buggy under roof.  He also had to build a brand new barn due to the complete destruction of the old one. Below are the photos of the finished work.

My great grandparents, grandparents, Aunt Lela, and great aunts and uncles on the front porch of the newly reconstructed farmhouse.

A more distant view including the enlarged shed/garage. My great grandfather Charles leaning on his car, and my grandfather Lawrence Runyan and his daughter, my aunt Lela standing in the doorway.

A front view of the shed/garage with the new barn behind it in the distance

In May of 1999 my mother and I made a week long trip to Kentucky and Indiana. Once in Indiana we went looking for her grandparent's home. We didn't have any trouble finding it and we both recognized it as soon as we saw it through the trees. I had seen the photos so often that I had no doubt, this was it. My mother insisted we drive up the lane to the house to meet the owners. I was mortified! I didn't like dropping in on strangers unannounced! But Mom insisted. As we drove up and got out of the car we were greeted by the owners of the home, and when they found out who my mother was they invited us on a tour of the house. They were as excited to meet us as we were to be there! This young couple, who had five children if I remember correctly, had not owned the house long and they were in the process of restoring it to it's original blueprint. They asked my mother question after question. She pointed here and there, remembering a closet, a table, a furnace. We went upstairs. Her grandparents bedroom was there, the room she was never allowed in as a child. Mom told me she remembered looking from the doorway and seeing the stand  where my great grandmother kept the big Bible where all the family names and events are recorded. The very same Bible which is now in my possession!

When we finally left the couple, we exchanged addresses and over the years they wrote to my mother with all the new details of family and house restoration. I sent them all the old photos of the house and in exchange they sent me a 2 inch stack of papers of all the legal transactions from the house and land, the earliest being a warranty deed dated January 2nd 1832, and noting that: "The west half of the northeast quarter of section 20, township 16, range 10 east, was entered April 14th, 1824 by Thomas Maudlin as noted on page 23 of the entry book of lands in Henry County, Indiana, and according to the original survey contains 80 acres".

The most obvious renovation to the house was the return of the second story balcony that my great grandfather closed in when he made the repairs after the tornado. The photos below are more recent photos and reflect how the house looks today.

About 2004, 80 years after the tornado

The second story balcony is back, and this time with a stairway all to itself!

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Mom was "Born in a Tornado" - Indiana 1924

"I was born in a tornado"...at least that's how my mother told it. My mother, Janet Runyan, was born in a hospital on the evening of June 8, 1924 in New Castle, Indiana. A tornado hit the area that night and her grandparent's farmhouse in nearby Spiceland was partially destroyed. Below is a series of photos of the home taken pre-tornado and after the damage.

Pre-tornado (note the balcony on the side)

Roof torn off, balcony railing gone, considerable damage

A view from where the barn stood, looking at the shed and side of house

Another view of the damaged shed

Surveying the damage

Tree damage. What tree?

My mother said she was told they later found a chicken feather embedded in a tree so deep it couldn't be pulled out. Imagine that! She said her mother told her there were chickens with their feathers blown backwards and the feathers remained like that until the chickens molted. Hmmmm...

The Spiceland farmhouse was rebuilt, with improvements, by my maternal great grandfather, Charles Lee Newby. I'll post those photos tomorrow.

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Wordless Wednesday: Runyan Siblings 1955

Grace Anna (Runyan) Crim and her brother, my maternal grandfather,
Lawrence Everett Runyan, Indiana 1955

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SSN Application - Lawrence E. Runyan 1936

This application for a social security number was filled out by my maternal grandfather, Lawrence Everett Runyan, in 1936. I was filled with memories when I received this document as I remember well the square print my grandfather always used. This may be the only thing I have in his hand.

SSN Application - Lawrence Everett Runyan - 3 Dec 1936

My mother would have been 11 years old at this time. I had to laugh when I saw that Granddad left out one of the E's in his middle name when he filled this out! My grandmother often spelled his first name with a U instead of a W.

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Tombstone Tuesday: Ruth Darling 1899-1976

RUTH DARLING

1 Mar 1899 - 15 Nov 1976

Circle Grove Cemetry, Spiceland Township, Henry Co., Indiana

Ruth was the daughter of Elijah D. and Onedia C. (Morris) Darling, and the niece of my maternal 2nd great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth (Darling) Runyan. Ruth never married.

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Lewisville (Indiana) High School - Class of 1942

Lewisville High School Class of 1942 - Lewisville, Henry Co., Indiana
(click on photo to enlarge)

My mother, Janet Runyan, is shown on the far right in the second row from the top. Her best friend, Kate Jackson, is on the same row towards the middle, and another close friend, Charles Preston Doney, is next to Kate, in the center. Mom and Kate stayed in touch all their lives. I met Kate a couple of times when she came to Florida to visit, and again when Mom and I made a trip to Indiana in 1999. I talked again with Kate in April of 2010 to tell her of Mom's recent passing.

Regrets over missed chances...

Some time after Dad died, probably around 2003, or maybe earlier, when my mother was in her late 70s or early 80s, she started telling me of a classmate from high school who had moved to Florida and lived in a town nearby with his wife. The couple took to visiting with Mom fairly often and she told me that this man, Charles, had been a fighter pilot in WWII and that, at 80+ years old, he was still flying small planes as a hobby. Impressive!

About 3 months after Mom died, I found her address book and saw the name of Charles Doney listed within and realized he was the man she had spoken of so often. I called the number and got an answering machine. I stated who I was and that I was calling to speak with Charles about my mother who had passed away at the end of March. About 2 hours later, Mrs. Doney called me back. In a quavery voice, she told me Charles had passed away in early June, just a little over 2 months after my mother. She was still very emotional over her loss and we talked some time about Charles and their visits with my mother. After we hung up the disappointment hit me like new grief over my mother's passing. I was sad for Mrs. Doney, and sorry that I missed a chance to talk with Charles and listen to him reminisce about my mother in her teen years.

I regret so many missed chances over the years. This time, at least, it wasn't because I deliberately put off calling someone. This time was different. With each miss I am reminded to try harder not to make the same mistake again, if I can help it.

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The Friday Funnies: Adrift in the Bay

Below is a letter my grandmother, Mary Fern (Newby) Runyan, wrote and stuck in a birthday card to her sister-in-law, Grace Anna (Runyan) Crim on her birthday. At first I didn't know who the letter was to, and I wouldn't have known if my grandmother hadn't put the year at the top and mentioned that the person's birthday coincided with Election Day of that year. All I had to do was Google "Election Day 1964" and up came the date "November 3", Grace's birthday! I suppose Grace's daughter Vera found this among her mother's things and gave it to my mother after Grace died. I am tickled pink that my mother kept it!                                                                  

As I have mentioned before, my grandfather, Lawrence E. Runyan, was an avid fisherman. It was his favorite thing to do as long as I can remember. 

Lawrence E. Runyan and his catch of the day - circa 1954
Trout was 31 & 1/2" long,  and weighed 16 lbs.  

1964

 

Hi: -

     Hope you have a nice Birthday! Every-body's celebrating it - Election Day, ha.

     How have you been? Just today Laurence is acting almost normal. He has done nothing but sleep since he got home - except one day!

     Mr. MacElhaney (our neighbor across the street) bought a new boat while Laurence was gone. a couple of weeks ago they took the boat out on to the Bay.

     The wind was blowing - and the motor conked out! Not another boat in the bay. they tied a white rag to a fishing pole and stuck it up in the boat - no-body paid any attention. they drifted about six hours clear across the bay about ten or twelve miles. They found an old house away off from no-where with two old drunk men in it, one of them drove L. & M. across the bay to the Marina to their car - it was about seven o'clock - (dark) when they got home. The next day they had to go back and get the boat, ha, and since then until today Laurence has been sleeping again, ha. He can get himself into more messes than any-body I ever saw, ha.

     Think he will be O.K. now if he don't go off on another tangent.

                                                           Happy Birthday.

                                                             Love

                                                            Fern & Laurence

Lawrence Everett and Mary Fern (Newby) Runyan - circa 1965

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Military Monday: Army Discharge - L. E. Runyan

Lawrence Everett Runyan was my maternal grandfather. He served in the U. S. Army in World War I as Private First Class, in Co. M, 78th Infantry at Camp Custer, Michigan. He enlisted on August 29, 1918 in New Castle, Indiana at the age of 25 and was honorably discharged five months later on January 21, 1919  These are his original discharge papers, now in my possession.

My grandfather dearly loved to fish, which is evident from the permit stamps on these papers placed there over the years.

Inside (or front) of Army Discharge paper of Lawrence E. Runyan

Outside portion (or back) of Army Discharge paper of Lawrence E. Runyan

Lawrence's Army induction papers can be seen at this link:

Military Monday: Lawrence E. Runyan Orders of Induction - 1918

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Sunday's Obituary: Oral Perry Crim 1879-1953

                                       ORAL P. CRIM

National Road Traveler
dated 24 Dec 1953

     Oral P. Crim, 74, of southeast of New Castle, died Friday morning in his home after a brief illness. He was a lifelong resident of Henry County and a retired employe of the Chrysler forge division. He worked thirty-one years at the Chrysler plant before his retirement. He was a member of the New Castle Baptist Church.

     Survivors include his wife, Grace; a daughter, Mrs. Lyle Redelman of New Castle; two sons, Paul E. of New Castle and Clyde C. of New Lisbon; two grandchildren and a sister, Mrs. John Beavers of Springport.

Oral P. Crim 1942

     Funeral services were held Monday with the Rev. G. W. Hurt in charge. Burial in South Mound Cemetery.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Oral was the son of Miles and Lorinda (Sanders) Crim. He was married to Grace Anna Runyan, the sister of my maternal grandfather, Lawrence Everett Runyan. Oral was also married 8 years to Blanche K. Bond who died in 1908.

Oral's memorial at FindAGrave.com can be seen by clicking on the link below:

Oral Perry Crim Memorial

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Military Monday: Pvt. Paul Eugene Crim

Pvt. Paul Eugene Crim - circa 1943

Pvt. Paul E. Crim was the son of Oral Perry and Grace Anna (Runyan) Crim. He was born 14 Jan 1924 and died 13 Nov 1992. He was my mother's first cousin and close friend. Paul enlisted in the United States Army on 13 Mar 1943 at Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana.

A snippet from the local news...

National Road Traveler (Cambridge City, Indiana) April 6, 1944:

National Road Traveler article dated Apr. 6, 1944

"Clyde Crim visited with his brother Pvt. Paul Crim at College Park, Md. where Pvt. Crim has been taking a specialized training course at the University of Maryland. They were also at Washington, D.C."

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Tombstone Tuesday: Elijah and Onedia Darling

Elijah D. Darling   May 28, 1859 - July 8, 1915

Married August 11, 1884

Onedia C. Morris   May 1867 - 1923

Buried Circle Grove Cemetery, Spiceland Twp., Henry Co., Indiana

Elijah was the twin of my maternal great grandmother,
Mary Elizabeth (Darling) Runyan.
Elijah and Onedia had 10 known children, 2 daughters died in infancy.

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Wedding Wednesday: Roy and Viola (Runyan) Keller

Married November 28, 1945

Lula Viola Runyan  1922 - 2005
Roy Alvin Keller  1917 - 2004

Viola was the daughter of Jesse Claude and Lena (Hudelson) Runyan. She was my mother's first cousin.

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Treasure Chest Thursday: Mom's Baby Booties 1924

A Sweet Heirloom!

Booties worn by my mother, Janet Runyan, when she was an infant

These booties still have a hint of blue. I wonder if my grandparents thought she was going to be a boy? No..apparently not! According to an article I found on children's clothing at Smithsonian.com, it wasn't until the 1940s that today's color dictate was established. Before that, pink was considered an appropriate color for boys and little girls wore blue! 

"The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl."

It's a great article! You can read it here: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

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Wordless Wednesday: Cousins - The Summer of '42

Standing L to R: Harold Vanbuskirk (husband of cousin Pearl),
cousin Paul, Morris Newby (uncle of cousin Janet), cousin Vera ,
and cousin Thelma. Kneeling L to R: cousin Pearl,
cousin Janet (my mother),  and cousin Viola. The six cousins are 
grandchildren of Robert Noah and Mary Elizabeth (Darling) Runyan.

 Photo taken in 1942 at the home of my maternal grandparents, Lawrence and Fern (Newby) Runyan, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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Tombstone Tuesday: Samuel and Louisa Darling

McCray Cemetery
Wilkinson, Hancock Co., Indiana

Samuel Claude Darling was the son of Samuel S. and Mariah (Luthultz) Darling and the nephew of my great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth (Darling) Runyan. He married Louisa May Sullivan on January 23, 1909 in Henry Co., Indiana. They had two children: Wilbur Harold and Isabella Jane. Louisa was the daughter of Andrew and Isabelle (Johnson) Sullivan and was responsible for writing the lengthy obituary of my great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth.

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