IMMIGRANT DAUGHTER #25

When I ended my last post I mentioned the orphan boy found out he had family close by that came to the surface. I need to tell you my brother in law is a persistent and detailed person. He was a certified public accountant and a T man for the government. So you can imagine when he dug into finding information about C he did not take “records closed” too well and knew the steps he had to take to find out the information without offending the local people.

He told us about the humorous incident of going through the genealogy department of Indiana. They had a list of eight and he picked one with the same last name that C was using only pronounced differently. When he called her and explained what he was doing for a child, now a man that was trying to find out the truth about his background. She was very polite and listened. Then she said she was his aunt by marriage and knew about the situation. You can imagine the delight BIL had on the first phone call hitting pay dirt on his hunch of talking to someone with the same last name. Here is a picture of VM.

I want to tell you something about his aunt that we taken with, when she told us of how she married her husband. A was a Colonel in the Army fighting in the Mexican war and was seventeen years her senor. His first wife died and he was out of the army and aunt VM was set on him marrying her. He had eyes for her cousin but did in fact marry C’ aunt. I don’t know how she did it but I will call it perseverance. Years later when my fathers’ brother died my sister found in his belongs a document stating he was fighting against the prohibition in the same area the Colonel was, only he was for it. The Colonel is the man standing on the far right in this photograph.

After a few letters back and forth she arranged a get-together with the many cousins that were still living for C to meet. But here is the best part C had two brothers that a different last name than his and you would think that all turned out for the best, but it didn’t. The cousins that said they would come with their spouse totaled 12 including the aunt and us. The brothers did not respond they said there wasn’t anything in it for them. They had nothing to do with that half of the family and I will mention that later.

We met at a small eating place somewhere in Indiana I never heard of and met part of C’ family. They were all big and hardy people and C looked very lean next to them. They were very friendly and loving all talking at once with their version of what they thought happened. C was beside himself of finally knowing he did belong somewhere and why he wasn’t there now. They were a bit older than he and unfortunately many of them passed away before we see them again because they were scattered out in northern Indiana.

Aunt VM lived in Indianapolis and we lived only an hour away so we had many visits to her home. In the meantime we gave us the story of C’ brothers and the background of the different last name. Remember when I mentioned about the money or the baby and they chose the money. Well we are now piecing together C’ life because he is now a grown man finding out he has two brothers that are five years apart in ages. C was first, then after five years the second son and five more years the third son. Now you know the desolate existence of C’ birth, and now I will tell you about his brothers. en.eceived great wealth from the great grandmother. His dad bought the fairgrounds to build their house and incidentally it is still there. The boys grew up lacking nothing. They lived in Indiana in the winter and in Florida on the inland waterway in the summer. They lived luxuriously where ever they lived. When we got married in 49 this is what his family looked like then.

When C arrived on the scene looking for information many years had passed. Everyone was grown and the father had passed away and his mother had just passed away. So when C arrived on the scene the older of the two at home thought C’ was looking for some way to get money and indicated as much to him. He couldn’t understand that C wanted to know about his parents and that’s’ all. We knew the Lord and didn’t need money because we had more than money. But you can’t tell this to anyone that does not know the Lord. They way they reacted about money they were the losers not us.

One day the cousin in the first picture asked C to come up to Fort Wayne where he was living and said he wanted to take him to the office of his brother. They had the corner market of bottle gas and oil business in the area. If I mentioned the name of gas stations you would be aware of the amount of money they were worried about. Cousin L took C to the office and the secretary said the brother was not in. Now she knew cousin L and said other brother was in and would see us.

We went in to the office and he recognized cousin L and shook his hand and asked what he could do for him. Cousin L said he came to do something for him and said I want you to meet your older brother. It got so quiet you could hear a pin drop and that is something because Cousin L was loud and boisterous most of the time. Brother B shook C’ hand and excused himself and left the room.
Here is a picture of the brothers with their mother.

His mother and father where living in northern Indiana and had r
I need to stop here just to let you catch your breath because there is a more to tell you about my husband who is no longer an orphan boy. Until then, I am Immigrant Daughter.