1937 Ohio River Flood

This week will mark the 75th anniversary of one of the worse floods that Ripley, Ohio has ever endured.  After the rainiest January on record, the Ohio River overflowed its banks sending destruction into the homes, businesses, and lives of the town's citizens.

The photos below were taken on Second Street near Market Street.  My Becker great-grandparents, Louis and Amy, lived about a block away on this same street, as did my Haitz grandparents, George and Janet and their two year old daughter.  I can only imagine what they must have gone through to escape the rising water with a toddler, not to mention the mess that they must have returned to when the water receded.

The 1937 flood in Ripley, Ohio

This is the same view today.

Alice Lee Edwards

A very distant cousin, Alice Lee Edwards was a character actress who appeared on stage and television from the late 1930's to 1950.  We share the ancestor, Johann Heinrich Linn, or Henry as he was known in America, and his wife, Elizabeth Stein.  

Alice Lee was born in 1910 to parents, Alice Linn and Leander Allison Edwards in Ripley, Ohio.  At the age of about five, the family moved to Hamilton, Ohio in Butler County where her mother was a teacher in the public schools.   

Alice Lee became familiar with death all during her childhood.  In 1917, her father died and she and her mother became a part of the household of Leon and Minnie Perkins in Hamilton.  They are listed as cousins of Leon in the 1920 census.  On December 16, 1925, Alice Lee suffered the death of her grandmother, Louisa Weiand Linn, then just a short time later, on January 14, 1926, her mother tragically died from liver problems that were a complication of influenza.  At the young age of sixteen, Alice Lee returned to Ripley to live with her grandfather, Charles A. Linn where just one year later, she would once again encounter death upon the death of  her grandfather.  

Alice Lee enjoyed participating in plays and public speaking during her high school years in Ripley.   Graduating from Ripley High School in 1927, she then attended Miami University, graduating from that institution in 1931.  After being a student of  drama under actress Madam Maria Ouspeskaya in New York City, Alice Lee became a teacher of that art in Buffalo, New York.  

Her later years found Alice Lee in various plays and productions in Hollywood and Pasadena, California.  She returned to the east coast where she performed on stage in New York City and other theaters in New England.  In 1949, she was a member of the Peterborough Players in Peterborough, New Hampshire.  In 1950, she made an appearance on the Gabby Hayes television show.

Alice Lee's life, while tragic, must have been an exciting one with her career and travels.  On January 26, 1955, exactly twenty-nine years after the death of her mother, Alice Lee met death for the final time. Her own death occurred in New York City where her body was cremated.  There is a marker honoring her life in the Edwards' family plot in Maplewood Cemetery, Ripley, Ohio.

  

Tombstone Tuesday - Joseph and Henrietta Haitz

Monday, February 14, will mark the fifty-first anniversary of my great-grandfather's death.  Joseph Haitz died from heart disease in his home at 3:30 in the morning on Valentines Day.  He was 82 years old.  He was buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Ripley, Ohio.

Haitz Siblings

As I have written before, my grandfather, George Haitz, was one of sixteen children.  I found this picture of him as a baby with his older siblings.  The little girls in the back are (left to right) Henrietta, Mary Louise, and Elizabeth.  The oldest of the Haitz children, Margaret, is sitting with my grandfather in her lap.

The children in the front are (left to right) Frank, Joe Bill (Joseph William),  Emma, and Bob (Robert).  My grandfather was born in March of 1914 so this picture must have been taken during the summer of 1915 at the Haitz home on Stephenson Road in Ripley, Ohio.  

Christmas Past

With my father being in the military, I very seldom spent the Christmas holidays with my grandparents in Ripley, Ohio.  My Christmases were spent quietly with my parents and brother in places like Hawaii, Alabama, South and North Carolina, Kentucky, and Zweibrucken, Germany.  They were pleasant and fun holidays, but  I often wonder what I missed by not having cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents around to share in the celebration of Christmas. 

 

After her divorce, there were years that my grandmother, Janet, would travel to where ever we lived at the time to be with us over the holidays.   Those years were special in that not only was it Christmas, but it was one more time during the year that I was able to spend with my grandmother, which was a rarity.

This picture was taken at Christmas 1958 before I became a military kid.  That's me with my grandfather, George Haitz, and my cousin.  I don't remember those first three Christmases that I spent in Ripley, but I know that the warmth and love that surrounded me is with me still.  

May your Christmas be one spent surrounded by the love of family and our Lord, Jesus Christ!  Merry Christmas!

The Linn Brothers

Michael and Magdalena Linn had four sons, in addition to their two daughters, that lived to adulthood.  Interestingly, three of those sons never married.   All but Louis stayed in Ripley their entire lives and worked in the retail business dealing with either dry goods or clothing.

William F. Linn, also known as Wilhelm F.,  was born September 13, 1856.  He married Ida Beyersdoerfer in 1897.  They became the parents of two children, Michael Raymond and Elizabeth.  W. F., as he was commonly known, died in Ripley in 1953.

Born Ludwig L. on November 1, 1858, Louis left Ripley at an early age.  In 1880, he was living in Atchison, Kansas along with his cousin, Henry Linn.  He then settled in Gunnison, Colorado.  For reasons unknown, he returned to Ripley by 1910 where he stayed until his death in 1935.

Emil Linn was the twin of his sister, Emilie, or Amelia as she was called.  The twins were born on the last day of January in 1861.  Emil was a grocer.  He, along with his younger brother, Walter, lived with their sister, Flora, until Flora's death.  After her passing, they continued to live in the Montgomery house on Fifth Street until their deaths.  Emil died in 1947. 

The youngest Linn son was Walter.  He was born April 30, 1863.  Walter was a dry goods merchant in Ripley.  He died September 17, 1954.  Upon his death, his estate was valued at $220,005.78.