Throwback Thursday: Lilly (Sienknecht) Staker

Henry and Frieda Sienknecht were fresh off the boat when they welcomed a daughter into their home 131 years ago this week. Natives of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, they had arrived in the U.S. just two months earlier, sailing into New York harbor on November 26, 1883. Frieda’s 18-month-old nephew, Henry Krambeck, immigrated with them as their adopted son, Henry Sienknecht Jr., but the little girl born January 30, 1884, in Hampton Bluffs, Illinois, was their first child together – and the first born an American citizen.

She was baptized Louise Marie Dorothea Sienknecht at the Protestant Lutheran Church in Hampton Bluffs on July 27, 1884. Following tradition, she was named after three of her four godparents: her aunts, Louise Leethje and Mary Bohnstengel; and family friend, Dorothea Gerken. She would call herself Lillian or Lilly for her entire adult life.

The Sienknechts would have three more children in Illinois before moving to Tama County, Iowa, in 1893. It was there Lilly met Julius Staker. On January 30, 1902, Lilly turned 18. The next day, she and Julius took out a marriage license.

They were married February 12, 1902, in the Sienknecht home. Lilly’s maid of honor was Julius’ sister, Amanda Bern. His best man was her brother, Henry Sienknecht Jr. Their first child, Fred, was born on July 28, 1902. For the next 20 years motherhood would be Lilly’s main occupation. She would give birth in 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1916, 1918, and 1922. By their 60th wedding anniversary in 1962, they would have 24 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.

Julius and Lilly retired in 1948, moving from their farm in Grant Township to the house they built in Lincoln. They became great-great-grandparents on December 6, 1964, a few weeks before Julius died on December 30 at age 86. She died just two months after her husband, on February 27, 1965, at age 81.

Throwback Thursday: Eliza (Zehrung) Reinig

Eliza (Zehrung) Reinig passed away in Toledo, Iowa, on January 21, 1925, when she was an 86-year-old great-grandmother. It was 70 years after she first settled in Tama County, arriving in a covered wagon with her family on May 15, 1855.

Zehrung family came from Fairfield County, Ohio. Eliza’s great uncle, Adam Zehrung, had lived in Tama County since the early 1850s and had named the fledgling frontier town of Toledo, Iowa, after the city in his native Ohio. Eliza’s parents, Jonathan and Mary, were farmers with seven daughters and one son. When they loaded the wagon to join Adam in Iowa, Eliza, the second oldest, was 17.

Eliza’s sister, Catherine, was 18 when they began the journey. She was also unmarried and pregnant. The family settled northwest of Toledo, where Catherine gave birth to twin girls, Katie and Caroline, on December 23, 1855. Catherine survived childbirth by just a few weeks, dying January 11, 1856.

In Toledo, Eliza met Jacob Reinig, a German immigrant working as a farm hand. Though the Zehrungs had been in the U.S. for 150 years, they still spoke German, which was an asset when courting the young Bavarian immigrant. They married August 15, 1859, and Eliza gave birth to their first son, William, on January 31, 1860.

A second son, Franklin, would arrive while Jacob was away fighting in the Civil War. Eliza lived with her parents during the war, receiving $9 a month for compensation from the county while her husband was marching through the South. By the end of his service she would save more than $300.

After the war Jacob bought land near his in-laws and Eliza had more children – 10 total over the span of 26 years. They adopted Eliza’s orphaned niece, Caroline Zehrung, bringing their total to 11. When Jacob died in 1909, Eliza filed for a widow’s pension from the government. She would outlive four children, three in infancy and a son, Lewis, killed in 1916 when his car was hit by a train in Tama. In her later years she would live with her youngest son, Elmer, on the farm northwest of town. Her funeral was held from his home on January 25, 1925, and she was laid to rest next to her husband in Woodlawn Cemetery, near her parents, great-uncle Adam, and sisters, Maria, Elizabeth, and Catherine.

Throwback Thursday: Loren and Clara (Wilson) Finch

Mrs. Clara Finch had already seen her fill of the Tama County District Court by the time it convened on January 7, 1913. She wasn’t a criminal – far from it. She was a plaintiff, and that particular Tuesday marked the end of a four-year struggle to gain divorce from her husband, Loren.

They were married December 5, 1896, in Marshalltown. Clara Wilson, 26, was the educated daughter of a wealthy Tama County farmer. Her mother had died when she was nine and she had spent her life up to that point helping raise her younger siblings. Loren, 22, was a railroad fireman from Boone. After marriage they would live in Boone, where their first two children were born.

Clara’s problems started early. Loren, she discovered, was an alcoholic, and an abusive partner. She never said Loren was physically abusive, though his emotional abuse, coupled with his habitual alcoholism “preyed upon her mind as to undermine her health and make her a nervous and physical wreck.”

They moved to Des Moines in 1900. In 1901 their five-week-old daughter, Dorothy, died, while they were in Boone visiting Loren’s parents. That year they moved back to Boone and began a semi-nomadic life as Loren chased work and ran from his demons. His railroad career was over by 1905 and his drinking was out of control. Clara was left raising their four children, scraping together what money she could and sometimes calling on city or county agencies for support. Once, when Clara had just five cents left to her name, Loren stole it to buy whiskey. By the time their marriage ended, she estimated Loren had spent $1,800 of her money – approximately $45,000 today.

It’s unknown what finally made Loren leave for good, but on January 9, 1909, he and Clara parted ways for the last time. Clara was 39, broke, and pregnant with their sixth child. She filed for divorce on April 13, but Loren couldn’t be found to serve papers. The case languished on the court docket for four years, coming up each term and getting postponed because the defendant was not present. By 1913, the court was satisfied that Loren wasn’t going to show. They found in favor of Clara, granting her sole custody and ordering Loren to pay alimony. It was money she’d never receive from a man she’d never see again.

Loren’s ultimate fate remains a mystery. He was estranged from his parents and siblings, who lived very close to Clara and her children, but had no association with them after the divorce. Their youngest daughter, Mary, was born three months after Clara filed for divorce. She would grow up being told her father was dead.

Clara managed the emotional and physical toll of her marriage as best she could. She lived to be 89 years old, most of her life spent moving between her children’s homes. In later years, when Clara’s grandchildren would ask what happened to their grandfather, she would simply remain silent. If she knew what became of him, she took it to her grave.