At the Cemetery

             I’ve visited a lot of cemeteries during my genealogy research career.  A lot of walking and photo taking and on one of the trips, I recorded information as well as taking photos.

Mtn View Cemetery:
 William & Susan Kludt

So, what cemeteries have I visited?  Several in Washington State where my relatives are buried.  These include Rainy
Valley outside of Glenoma, Sticklin Greenwood Memorial in Centralia, and Mountain View Cemetery, also in Centralia.  Rainy Valley has my Mom’s family – the Keesees.  Greenwood also has mom’s family – both the Keesees and the Reynoldsons.  Mountain View has

Fern Hill Cemetery:
William & Julia Belles

my dad’s family – the Kludts, including my brother.  OH, also visited a cemetery in Spokane and in Lind where some of my dad’s relatives are buried.  We’ve also checked out Fern Hill Cemetery in Aberdeen where my husband’s family is buried.

1982 saw me in Pike County, Kentucky doing research and visiting several cemeteries for the Keesee family. Some had tall grass to walk through, and you had to

Chestnut Point:
Ruth E Bevins

have a stick to beat the area to scare away the snakes.  Most of them were up on hillsides.  The one that was the most interesting was Apple Orchard near the church that family attended.  Without having old-timers with me, I would not have known which plot belonged to my ancestors as the only marking was a cross.  Other cemeteries included Bent Branch, Chestnut Point, and Scott Family to name just a few.

1984 saw my aunt and I in Fayette County, Iowa doing research on the Kludt/Reisner family.  Family members took us to several cemeteries where our early relatives are buried – West Union, Hawkeye, and Eldorado were the main ones.  Besides cemeteries, we visited churches to find various records.

Mennonite Cemetery:
Aaron & Elizabeth Shontz

2016 saw my husband and I in Harmony, Butler County, Pennsylvania at the Mennonite Cemetery for the Belles/Shontz/Zeigler families.  We also visited another cemetery that was real interesting – no tombstones nor markings of any kind; just a fenced in patch of grass.

Harmony Society Cemetery

The cemetery I really want to go to is in the Barton/Grafton/Cedarburg area in Wisconsin.  I want to see what Kludts/Fromms are buried there.  I know that at least two children from my immigrant ancestor, John Kludt, are buried there.  Whether there’s a marker or not remains to be seen.

A Question the Records Can't Answer

             Thinking about this and I do have some questions for my paternal great grandparents.  I raised these questions on my blog entry about A Big Decision.  In fact, it was my opening statement.

I also want to ask Emanuel Swinehart why he moved around so much.  The Swinehart’s’ started out in Wyandot County, Ohio.  Then sometime prior to 1865, they moved to Noble County, Indiana.  Several of Emanuel’s children were born in Indiana.  However, a couple were born in Kansas.  He moved sometime prior to 1880. He ended up in Clatsop County, Oregon where he died in 1926.  There is a family lore that says he worked for the railroad.  But can’t find proof.  His son, Harry (also a paternal great grandparent), ended up in Idaho then Washington State.

I’m sure there are others, I just haven’t worked in depth on those lines. 

An Address with a Story

           

Zenkner Valley where I grew up.  It had many addresses – it first started out as a Rural Route with a Box number (Rte 2 Box 276).  Then it became an actual street address (21903/21904 Zenkner Vly Rd SW).

       Edward William Kludt and his wife, Bernice Swinehart, purchased the 120 acre farm on May 1, 1954 from Earl and Ann Shearer.   Description of the property:  NE quarter of the SE quarter of Section 20 and the north half of the SW quarter of Section 21, Township 15 North, Range 2 West, WM, excepting therefrom county roads known as McElfresh and Zenkner Roads, in Thurston County, Washington.[1]  They lived on the farm until 1957 when their son, my father, William Edward Kludt and his wife, Joycelyn Bea Keesee, took over the operations (not ownership).  

In 1962, Bill & Joyce purchased a dairy farm of their own in Rochester.  They sold it in August 1967 and returned to Zenkner Valley where they raised their children. They turned the farm into a beef instead of dairy.  In June 1975, Papa (Ed Kludt) passed away and the farm came under the ownership of my dad, Bill Kludt.

I left the farm in the Spring of 1979.  At that time, it still had the rural route address. By the end of 1979, it became known as 21903 Zenkner Valley Rd SW.  At the same time, the folks decided to build a new home across the road (address was 21904 Zenkner Valley Rd SW).  They moved in and sold the farm house and barns (total of 40 acres) in June 1980.  In 2005, they sold another portion of the acreage (no buildings) known as the back 40.

In 2020, the folks decided they could no longer take care of the remaining 40 acres that they lived on nor could they be in a two-story home.  So, they purchased a home on the prairie and sold the remaining property to the owners of 21903 Zenkner Valley Rd.  These same people had purchased a portion of the original back 40.  So, an original 120 acre farm that was sold in pieces is almost back together.

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[1] Various Deed Documents downloaded 4/23/26 from https://eagleweb.co.thurston.wa.us/thurstonrecorder/eagleweb/docSearchResults.jsp?searchId=3

 

A Turning Point

        This prompt was a little bit harder for me to think of an ancestor to write about.  So, I read some of the responses.  That brought me to think about my 2x great grandfather, Heinrich Johann Ludwig Kludt.

       I’ve written about him in the past. With the most recent being about Immigration in February 2024.  If I’m remembering my translation notes correctly, he came from a family of saloonkeepers.  This occupation followed him from Mecklenburg to Wisconsin. 

       When he moved to Iowa, his occupation changed to farmer.  I talked a little bit more about this being a family tradition as far as the United States is concerned in a different blog posting.

       I believe every move became a new turning point in the lives of my ancestors.

A Big Decision

           Why did William Kludt move from Iowa to Minnesota then back to Iowa then to Washington State?  All in a span of about five years.  I really don’t know.

William’s parents moved to Iowa from Wisconsin in 1878.  He married his wife, Susan Reisner, in February 1889.  Their three oldest children were all born in Iowa in 1890, 1892, and 1895, respectively.  Their youngest (and fourth) child was born in Minnesota in 1900.

Let’s look at land records.  William purchased land in Sept 1892 in Fayette Co, Iowa.  He later sold it in Feb 1906.  He purchased land (127 ½ acres) in May 1906 in Lewis County, Washington.  This land he sold parcels over the next few years.  He had purchased a town lot in March 1920 (but didn’t move there until the 1940’s).  He also purchased two lots of property in Adna in January 1922.  They sold this land in March 1943 before moving into the house in Chehalis.  No mention of the sale of the first purchase of land in Lewis County as it was leased to his oldest son to farm.

       Ok, what about newspaper articles.  That always gives clues.  West Union Gazette, published October 14, 1892 indicates that William had lived on the farm he purchased for the past three years.  That means, he and Susan were renting the land soon after their marriage.  He paid $2400 for 160 acres.  The Argo newspaper (also published in West Union, Iowa) had an announcement about a public sale being held on the farm in February 1899, selling livestock and crops.  The March 1^st edition indicated that the farm was rented out and the family moved to Minnesota where they rented a farm until 1903, when they returned to the Iowa farm.  In February 1906, an exchange was done between William and a Mr Ostrander of farms in Center Township with William’s land in Auburn (in Iowa).  This article mentioned that William is leaving for Oregon.  Still no mention as to the why.

       Guess we’ll never know why William moved between Iowa, Minnesota, and Washington State.

A Breakthrough Moment

 Week 5 – A Breakthrough Moment

       Do I have a breakthrough moment?  Hmmm . . . Not quite for this year.  But I did last year!  Oops, make that in 2024.  I was working on a brick wall for my paternal 3x great grandparents.

       I started out using DNA to confirm the parents of my 2x great grandmother, Dorothea Ahrendt, who married Heinrich Johann Ludwig Kludt.  Dorothea was born 4 Jun 1836 in Mecklenburg, Germany.  She died 10 October 1919 in Fruitland, Muscatine Co, Iowa.  She married John Kludt the 27^th of November 1857 in Grafton, Ozaukee Co, Wisconsin.  They had six children but only three survived to adulthood.

       Her death certificate indicated that her father was Christen Arendt but the mother was unknown (the informant was the Reverend who was probably at the Lutheran Old People’s Home where she resided just before her death).

       Their marriage certificate indicated that her father was J. Ahrendt.  No name was given for her mother.

       Well, let’s see if I can find a birth record.  Jackpot!  Found it in the digitized Lutheran Church records from Mecklenburg.  Her full name was Christina Maria Dorothea Ahrend and her parents were Johann Christian Ahrend and Maria Elisabeth Ahrend.  Then I was able to find a passenger list from 1854 that lists Chr. Ahrends with his family Maria, Dorothea, Joh., and Wilhelmina.  With that information, I was able to use online church records and trace the family back two more generations.  I also found out that Johann Christian Ahrend married Maria Elisabeth’s sister first in 1828.  Her name was Maria Dorothea Arndt.

       Now, I have some more questions to be answered.

1.  Are Johann Christian Ahrend and Maria Elisabeth Arndt related?
2. Johann’s maternal grandmother was a Kludt.  Does she tie in to my Kludt family?

Death Certificate - personal copy obtained from State of Iowa

Marriage Registration

  

Germany Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1971
Ancestry.com

 

Hamburg Passenger List
31 May 1854

New York Passenger List 
4 Aug 1854

What This Story Means to Me

          Dad always told stories about his childhood and early adulthood.  Those stories add flavor to genealogy.  It gives it color.  I may have talked about these stories before when I’ve talked about Dad.  If so, oh well, they deserve to be repeated.  If not, you are in for a treat.

The Tractor

         This took place shortly after the family moved to Galvin and settled down (in the early 1940’s).  Dad can’t remember if it was something that Grandpa William and Uncle John built or if it was Papa and Uncle John.  It was built while Grandpa William was still on the farm out past Adna.  Anyway, they had taken an old Dodge pickup (at least that is what Dad believed it to be) and converted it into a tractor (wish I had a photo). There was a spot that was just perfect for a little boy.  Dad said he would hold on to the edges of this platform.  One day, his hand was hit and did some damage to one of his fingers.

         Dad indicated that Papa had to put extensions on the clutch, brake pedal, and throttle so he could even reach them.  This was shortly after they had moved to Galvin and he was 6 or 7 at the time.  Its last rumble was when he was taking it from the driveway to the orchard, turning the corner into the orchard that was on the farm.  There was this little bump on the shoulder of the road that jumped up about 4".  Evidently, the tractor motor didn't like that bump and that was the last time it ran.  Seems like a piston broke about that time and the bump up was what caused the piston to break.  It probably had a crack in it to begin with.  It wasn't too long after that Papa bought a little Model L John Deere which was a crank start.

 

The Go-Cart

         Another story from Galvin youth.  Dad was about 8 years old.  He and a friend had built a go-cart (Uncle Clyde

may have been involved on this one).   Dad talked about how they built it and what type of wheels they used (see photo to the right).  He also talked about riding it down the Lincoln Creek road into Galvin.

         One time, after Papa had obtained a small, gas-powered engine that was used in a washing machine, the boys had dismantled it (it wasn’t working), cleaned up the parts using either gasoline or oil, then put it back together.  Added a little bit of gas and started it up.  It worked!  So, they then attached the motor to their cart.  They zipped up the road until it ran out of gas.  As they were pushing it back home, a deputy sheriff pulled up (actually, it was the Sheriff).  He asked them some questions, then escorted them home to talk to the parents.  Guess Grandma was upset, and Papa tried really hard not to laugh.  However, those two were back at it again!

         Another story (I’m not sure if this was before the motor was attached or afterwards), the boys were out and the steering broke.  The cart ended up crashing into the local blacksmith’s brand-new car.  Did some damage.   Well . . . guess who had to go to work to pay for the repairs.  Dad ended up doing a lot of odd jobs around the blacksmith’s place.  The best was in the shop – Dad learned a lot about welding using both an arc welder and a settling welder.

That’s just a few stories.  There are many more from his youth.  There’s one he loved telling about when he was in National Guard.  Oh, the twinkle in his eye and the smile on his face,  you knew he had good memories.  I’ve been slowly trying to write these stories down and add them to my family history – it’s what makes genealogy more interesting – not just names, dates, and places.

A Record That Adds Color

        I’ve been researching my Kludt family for a few years, writing a short biography for each direct ancestor.  While researching my grandfather, I ran across some interesting records that I never knew about.  (Papa loved telling stories but this was never told).

       Papa (as we called him) was born Edward William Kludt on the 19^th of August 1900 in Fulda, Murray Co, Minnesota, to William Edward Kludt & Susan Katherine Reisner.  Most of his growing up years were spent on the family farm in the Chehalis and Adna areas of Lewis Co, Washington.

       We have the World War I draft registration card that he completed on the 12^th of September 1918.  At that time, he was working as a mechanic for H McEldowney (McEldowney’s Garage) in Tacoma.  Description was medium height, medium build, gray eyes, and light colored hair.  He may still have been working at the garage when the census was taken in 1920.  He was listed as a lodger for the Park Hotel on A Street in Tacoma.

       By 1921 he was working as a laborer for the Chehalis Mill Company per the 1920-21 Lewis County City Directory.  The mill was destroyed by fire in August 1922.

       Now, here’s the interesting document.  While researching the digital archives, I ran across a Prisoner Register for Lewis County, Washington, that had him listed as being in jail for “contributing to delinquency of minor”.  Released on suspended sentence by Gerlach and Allen.  This was on March 22, 1921.  What was he doing?  I don’t know.  There was no other records.

       By 1923, he moved on to work for Weyerhaeuser.  He worked for them until his retirement in August 1965.  I wanted to obtain his employment history with them to find out where he was at during the early years of his career as a mechanic and road construction foreman.  I know that in 1926 he obtained a chauffer’s registration from the State of Oregon.  He lived in La Grande at the time. It was in LaGrande that he met his future wife, Bernice LaVerne Swinehart.  They were married in March 1928.  In 1929, they lived in Wheeler, Oregon.   

       The 1930 census had them living in Chehalis on the farm with his parents.  It said he was a laborer and was listed on the Unemployment Register (no copy of this).  I do know that by January 1931, they were in Lind, Washington when their daughter was born.  In 1935, they were back in Oregon, living in Marion County per the 1940 census.  In 1937, they were in Pendleton, Oregon, where my dad was born.

       Now is the confusion, census records show that he lived in Centralia in 1940 and 1950.  Land records show that he purchased a home in Centralia in 1938.  In 1943, they purchased land in Galvin (outside of Centralia) and sold the land in town.  Dad grew up in Galvin, attending grade school there then attending Centralia schools until he graduated in 1955.  His senior year, Papa purchased a farm in Zenkner Valley.  The family lived there until it was turned over to my parents to operate in about 1958.

       However, both dad and his sister often told stories about the time they lived in St Maries, Idaho when Papa worked there as a mechanic on the big logging cats & trucks.  Dad thought he was four or five years old (this would have been around 1942.  Papa also spent a lot of time at the logging camps and, on some weekends, when he had to work, the family would visit him.  There was also a period of time in the mid 1940’s that he was hospitalized due to a logging accident.  The doctors said he would never drive a cat again.  He proved them wrong.

       In February 1942, he did complete the World War II registration card for those born between 1897 and 1921.It indicated he worked for Weyerhaeuser Timber Co located in Tacoma, WA but that his job was in Vail, Thurston Co, WA.  Description was more complete – 6 ½ feet tall, weighed about 200 pounds, blue eyes, blonde hair (and bald) with a ruddy complexion.  I wouldn’t consider six feet a medium height if that was how tall he was when he was 18!

An Ancestor I Admire

        It’s hard to pick one.  Some are just names and I really don’t know them.  Others were in my life briefly.  Others, like my parents, have been in my life for many years.

(1)       My parents – the love and devotion they had for each other.  Dad passed away in February 2024 and Mom is still thriving.  They raised a family on a very limited income (and they never let it be known).  We were never without food, clothes or shelter.  We had a lot of good times and did a lot of things together as a family.  That is rare now a days.

(2)      

Grandma Fern – a strong, independent woman who raised nine children during the 1930’s through the 1950’s.  Money was tight and it seems like they moved a few times during the early years of their marriage.  She suffered a stroke that took away her speech, and she had to learn to write with her left hand (this happened just before I was born).

(3)       The ones I can’t name – living through the various wars (like Thomas Stead – Civil War) or moving to a new country and learning the language (Kludt, Ahrendt, and Reisner families).  Or even establishing a new nation (Patrick Porter & Thomas Pinson, to name a couple).

Great Granparents w/family
William Kludt & Susan Reisner

 

Grandparents Ed Kludt
& Bernice Swinehart

Great Grandparents
Bernice Stead & 
Raymond Reynoldson

Great Grandparents
Harry Swinehart &
Bertha Davis

Wedding Bells

           First, I’ll take a look at what I’ve written about previously.  Last year there was a topic entitled “Love & Marriage” where I talked about siblings marrying siblings and descending from two siblings.

   

    Wedding photos in my collection include mine.  This is both families.  We were married 31 August 1985 in Olympia, Thurston County, Washington. I also have a faded photo of my parents, who were married 30 August 1957 in Rochester,

Thurston County, Washington.  Mom gave me a bad time for not getting married on their anniversary.  Funny thing is, if you look up it up in the state/county records, you will see that our pastor goofed and used the 30^th of August as the date.

        Other photos include Henry Carl Kludt and Alma Nelson from 1907 and Oiver Wendell Belles and Henrietta Louise Niehaus from 1919.

I thought I had more . . . oh well.

Siblings - My Brother

 

Edward William Kludt

         My brother, Edward William Kludt, nicknamed “Eddie Bill” or “Eddie” and later “Ed”, was born 24 March 1964 in Centralia, Lewis County, Washington to William Edward Kludt and Joycelyn Bea Keesee.  At the time of his birth, we were living on a dairy farm in Rochester on Browne Road (now Applegate).

I have a memory of when we brought him home from the hospital (this was the old Centralia General Hospital located on North Iron Street).  We parked across the street from the hospital and waited for mom to come out (I don’t remember who was in the car with me – I was only 4 years old).

Mom said that he became my “living doll”.  I would dress him up in my doll clothes (I had a really big doll).  I can remember a time when we stayed with Papa and Grandma Kludt and Grandma kept calling him “her little stink pot”.  She was changing his dirty diaper.  Mom would always rock him to sleep, and Grandma refused.  So, he cried a lot when we were there.  The reason mom rocked him was that when he was first born, they discovered he had a hernia.  They had to wait until he was a few months old before operating.  So, he wasn’t allowed to cry.

         When he was about three years old, he wandered away without telling anybody.  Mom asked me if I knew where he was, and I said no.  She called his name and searched all over the house and around it.  Then she went down to the barns and started calling his name.  She was so afraid that he might have fallen into the open malt pit we had next to the barn and milking parlor.  Suddenly, I said, “Mom, is that him way over there?” pointing across the road where we had a very huge pasture.  I can see this orange hat bobbing up and down.  She hollered at him, and he came back.  She told him to never wander away again without anybody with him.  His reply, “I wasn’t by myself.  I had the dog(s) with me.”

         As we were the only kids, we played together a lot.  I remember one time when we were playing a game outside.  I can’t remember if we were fighting or not.  But we were running around the exterior of the house.  He was chasing me.  When, suddenly, I heard this cry.  I went back and discovered he had fallen, hitting his nose on the concrete slab that was holding the hinges to the door covering the stairwell into the underground root cellar (mom stored all her canned goods and root vegetables).  I think he had broken his nose.  There was a lot of blood.  After that incident, it didn’t take much for him to get bloody noses – especially in the summer.

         The summer of 1967, we moved from Rochester back to the family farm in Zenkner Valley (just north of the city limits of Centralia).  We still played a lot by ourselves.  But we also had a couple of neighbors (about a half mile away) that we played with as well.

         Ed started school in the Fall of 1969 at Logan School.  Centralia School District had this as the Kindergarten Center for everyone.  Then from 1970 to 1973, he attended Fords Prairie Elementary School for Grades 1-3.  This is because in the fall of 1970, Centralia School District decided to have the elementary schools be partnered – one school will have Grades 1-3 while the other school will have Grades 4-6.  There was one school that had all six grades.  Because of that, we were never in the same school at the same time.  From 1973 to 1976, he was at Oakview Elementary School for Grades 4-6.  Junior High covered Grades 7 & 8 and the High School had 9^th through 12^th.  He graduated in 1982.  He attended L H Bates Technical School out of Tacoma to earn his diesel mechanic’s certificate.  He finished his coursework early, completed his internship and received his certificate in March 1985.

         Ed was smart.  He could, if he wanted to, be a 4.0 student.  Actually, he did when he was in college.  There’s a story my mom tells about him when he was in the 5^th grade.  She was volunteering at the school and his teacher saw her in the hall way and approached her.  He said he was concerned about Ed failing math.  Mom looked at him and said that it couldn’t be possible, that he was doing his sister’s 9^th grade math (that would have been algebra).  Mr Bower (nicknamed Frosty) wouldn’t believe her until about a month later.  This was about the time when schools administered the Iowa Skills test; the results came back – Ed tested out at 9^th Grade math!  When Frosty saw mom in the hallways again, he apologized.  The problem – Ed wasn’t being challenged; therefore, he didn’t turn in his work!

         Ed’s extracurricular activities included Scouting, Band, and Wrestling.  He started his Scouting career as a Cub Scout in the second grade (Wolf).  I can remember him working on his Pinewood Derby cars, but I never went to any of his pack meetings (which is a shame as it is a family meeting).  He earned his Eagle Scout in 1976.  At that time, he was the  youngest Scout to earn Eagle in the Council.  His project was clean-up of a local cemetery along with his best friend.  I remember going to his Court of Honor after I got off work.  He was also involved with Explorer Search & Rescue, first as our subject/victim (he was too young to join), then as a regular member. Explorers are for ages 14-20.

         He started band when he was in the 5^th Grade.  He played trombone.  This was where they learned how to play the instruments and read the music.  It was held during lunch hour.  When he went to Junior High, he was in a regular band class.  What was interesting is that our dad was also in band during his high school years playing the trombone.  I can remember one time when we had our cousins visiting that he got out his trombone to show them what he can do.  When he finished playing, he removed the mouthpiece, and he had blood all around his mouth.  Oh, and there was another time that we attended a concert at the Junior High School.  This would have been when he was in the 8^th grade.  After his concert, he joined us in the stands while watching the 7^th grade.  Mom & I asked him about a person in that band, we both thought it was a relative of ours (nephew/cousin).  His reply was, “that is Pete Eddings”, which was not the name we were thinking of.  However, we found out later that it was the same person, he was adopted by his stepfather.

         Ed married Rose Ellen Tiller on the 19^th of November 1983 at Free United Methodist Church in Centralia.  Rose was still attending high school at the time.  They lived in a trailer house on her mother’s property in Grand Mound.  I’m not sure exactly how they met or how long they dated before getting married.  There are a couple of stories that Mom tells about Rose when they were dating.  One of the stories is that Rose was at the house up in the valley and they were playing pool in the basement.  Mom asked if Rose was staying for dinner.  Response was “yes”.  Then Ed asked what was for dinner and mom replied, “your favorite”.  When mom hollered that dinner was ready, only Ed came up the stairs.  Rose decided to leave after hearing what Ed’s favorite dish was.  So, next time, mom decided to do a sneaky thing – she didn’t say what was for dinner.  She just cut up the meat and put it on the serving tray.  By the time it got to Rose, it was gone.  She knew she couldn’t go back into the kitchen to slice up more as that would give it away.  You know, I don’t think Rose ever tried it.  What was the favorite dish,  you ask?  It was beef tongue.  Not one of my favorites either.

         Ed passed away on 31 March 1985 as a result of a drunk-driving car accident.  He was with a couple of friends celebrating 21’s (Ed and his two buddies all had birthdays at the same time of the year).  While the guys were taking one of the friend’s home, the driver lost control of the car and crashed.  Only one survived (he was thrown clear due to being asleep in the back seat).  The sad part, Rose & Ed just discovered that she was pregnant.  Candace Lee Kludt was born nine months later on the 5^th of December 1985.