Memoirs of One John Edward Werner Volume No. 1
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Memoirs of John Edward Werner, Vol. 1 MEMOIRS OF ONE JOHN EDWARD WERNER VOLUME NO. 1 Heritage I was born on 25 March, 1915 in a small home on Main Street in Culver, Indiana. The home is no longer there. It was replaced by a concrete block building which became a dry cleaning establishment operated by my future brother-in-law, Charles Ricciardi. Both my father and mother are buried in the cemetery in Culver, Indiana. My father was Howard Luke Werner and he was born in Eglon, West Virginia on 26 August 1892. His father was Hampton Werner and his mother was Lucinda Werner nee Miller. Hampton Werner was born on 18 July, 1848 in Garrett County, Maryland. He died 27 January 1885. Lucinda Miller was born on 10 March, 1851 in Fayette County, Pennsylvania and died 8 October, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois. Hampton Werner’s father was Casper Werner (John) who was born in Darmstadt, Germany in 1809 and was married to Judith Schultz in 1832. He was naturalized on 12 October, 1840 in Allegany County, Maryland. He died in 1878. Judith Schultz was born on 3 December, 1816 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania and died in Eglon, West Virginia in 1895 where both she and her husband are buried. Judith Schultz' father was Adam Schultz and her mother was Magreta Scheire, both of German descent. I do not know who Casper Werner's parents were, or if the place of his birth in Germany is spelled correctly. Lucinda Miller’s father was Phineas Miller, born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania on 29 January, 1825 and died in Eglon, West Virginia on 28 February 1907. Her mother was Mary Fike who was born in 1830 and died 7 April 1916. Please see Werner--Miller Family Tree for additional information on the family history. I was the youngest of five children, not including my mother’s first baby which was stillborn. Now to my mother’s family. Her maiden name was Lessie Elizabeth Taylor. She was born in Arcadia, Ohio on 12 July, 1885. She was the oldest of nine children of Robert Franklin Taylor who was born in Arcadia, Ohio on 27 September 1860, and died on 28 July, 1948 in Liberty Mills, Indiana. His father was George W. Taylor, born 1832 and died in 1923. He is buried in Arcadia, Ohio. Robert. F. Taylor’s mother was Elizabeth Peters vho was born in 1832 and died in 1920. She is buried in Arcadia, Ohio. George W. Taylor’s father was William Taylor, born 1795 in Ireland and died on 27 July, 1840 in Ohio. George Taylor's mother was Cassandra Bealle who was born 17 September, 1801 in Pennsylvania and died 30 March 1865 in Ohio. My mother’s mother was Mary Maria Pore. She was born 19 September, 1862 in Indiana and died 26 June, 1942 in Liberty Mills, Indiana. Both she and her husband are buried in the cemetery at South Whitley, Indiana. She was known as "Molly." Her father was John Pore, born 8 September, 1831 and died 11 March, 1917. Her Mother was Charlotta Thomas, born in 1834 and died in 1877 in Indiana. Please refer to Robert Franklin Taylor's Family, Ancestors, Descendants, and Related Families for additional information. My oldest sister was Mary Werner, born on 17 July, 1909 in Morgantown, West Virginia, 104 Beechham Street. She died on 7 January, 1993 in Culver, Indiana. Mary is buried with her husband, Charles Ricciardi, in the Cemetery in Culver, Indiana. Mary's twin sister was Martha Werner, who was born 15 minutes later. Martha died 3 January, 1991 in Culver, Indiana and is buried in the cemetery in Culver, Indiana along with her first husband, Harold Robinson. Ruth Werner and Robert Hampton Werner were also born in Morgantown, West Virginia on 23 November, 1910. Robert died 16 August, 1984 in South Bend, Indiana. He was cremated and the ashes were scattered on the St. Joseph river in South Bend. Ruth Werner lives in Jackson, Mississippi having never married. For more information on my immediate family please refer to the attached family trees. The first thing that I can remember is my father talking about the first World War, circa 1918, when I was about three years old. I recall that I was worrying over a battle which I thought was just on the other side of Lake Maxinkukee. We only lived about two blocks from the lake. I also remember the Armistice that ended the war on 11 November, 1918 because everyone was out in the street celebrating and someone gave me a piece of candy, free. I also remember my father talking about how he was riding a bicycle down a hill in West, Virginia. The bike did not have any brakes. You were supposed to wedge a stick between the wheel and the bike frame for a brake. He dropped the stick and tried to wedge his foot between the front wheel and the fork with disastrous results. The resulting spill just about ended my father. He also told me about how he helped his family build a road (lane) for quarter of a mile from their home to the edge of Eglon. My father wanted to be a teacher. To that end he attended Tri State College in Angola, Indiana to get his teacher's certificate. My mother, who had moved to Indiana when her father, R. F. Taylor, bought a 156 acre farm near Liberty Mills and moved his family there shortly after the turn of the century, decided to also teach school. She also went to Tri-State College. They met there Memoirs of John Edward Werner, Vol. 1 and fell in love. One time when my father took Miss Taylor for a boat ride on a nearby lake when the weather was quite warm, and the boat sprang a leak. Since the night was dark and the weather warm, neither of them noticed the water rising in the boat. They just made it back to shore. I, being the youngest in the family and having three older sisters who wanted to play with the new baby, was probably "spoiled." Nevertheless, I always wanted to play with my older brother Bob and his friend George Eisenhardt. One day when I was out with them playing in an old grain elevator, I fell through a hole in the floor. On the way through the hole my nose caught on the edge of the floor. The distance to the ground was only about three feet, but I broke my nose and to this day it is somewhat crooked. After the bleeding stopped I went on playing and when we all returned home my nose was so swollen that my folks could not tell it was broken, so nothing was done about straightening my nose. Some of the events that I will write about will be related, but may not be in correct chronological order since I will be writing them down as I remember them. Family Chicago Trips One of the many things that remain very clear in my memory was our family trips to Chicago, Illinois. We made these trips once or twice a year, depending on whether my Pop had enough money or not. When we went we always took the excursion train on the Nickel Plate Railroad from a little town about two miles north of Culver called Hibbard. As near as I can remember the round trip fare was about $2.50 for adults and half fare for the four older children, with little John riding free until I was about six years old. These trips, as noted above, started when I was quite little and continued until I was in High School. My Mom always prepared a wonderful picnic lunch to take along with us on the train and we kids had to wait until we got to Lincoln Park, walked through the Zoo and found an empty table for lunch before we could eat. After Lincoln Park we would go to Field's Museum, the Shedd Aquarium and then back to the Loop to attend a good movie and stage show at the Chicago Theater. If we had time we would get to the Art Museum also. These trips continued until I was in High School. My Mom always prepared a wonderful picnic lunch which we always ate in Lincoln Park. We would have dinner in a Greek restaurant (all seven of us) and back to the LaSalle Street Station to catch the return excursion train. The train left about seven or eight o'clock. It arrived in Hibbard about 11:00 o'clock PM. All of us kids took a nap on the way home on the train, especially since it was getting dark outside. I can remember the stands in the station in Chicago that sold fruit. The apples never looked redder and larger and the oranges were big and really orange. We never had enough money left at that time to buy very much. Most of the time we used the one and only taxi in Culver, operated by Frank McLane, who also taught English in the High School, to travel to and from Hibbard. He knew when the train was scheduled to leave and return and we never had to worry about him not being on time. In later years when more people had automobiles, we would have a friend take us to and from the little station in Hibbard, Indiana. This station was small and used a Pot-Bellied stove for heat and was only a flag stop on the railroad.