Sunday's Obituary: Ora Lee (Brady) LeMaster (1920-2008)

Commercial-Review, Portland, Indiana, April 16, 2005, page 2

Ora Lee LeMaster, 87, 229 W. McNell St., Portland, died Tuesday at Miller's Merry Manner in Dunkirk.


Born on June 17, 1920, in Jay County, to Harry and Rebecca (Lindsay) Brady, she was married on May 9, 1942 , to Garth L. LeMaster, who died on Feb. 5, 1998.


She was a homemaker and attended Portland Friends Church.


Surviving are three sons, Garth L. "Mike" LeMaster, Portland; James "David" LeMaster, Portland, and Pat LeMaster, Balbec; a daughter, Martha "LeAnn" Morrical, Indianapolis; three sisters, Ann Reed, Florida, Marie Bierbaum, Elkhart, and Doris Myers, Minnesota; nine grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.


Services are Monday at 11 a.m. in Baird-Freeman Funeral Home.


Burial will be in Salamonia Cemetery.


Visitation is Monday from 9 to 11 a.m. at the funeral home.


Memorials may be sent to Portland Friends Church, Gideons International or State of the Heart Home Health and Hospice.




Sunday’s Obituary – if you have obituaries of family members and ancestors, consider posting them along with other information about that person as part of Sunday’s Obituary. This is an ongoing series developed by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here.

Amanuensis Monday: Letter from Aunt Helene (October 1972)

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. 

Source: Letter from Helene LeMaster, 206 Bon Air Dr., Sidney, Ohio to Ord Weldon LeMaster, 214 West Monroe, Alexandria, Indiana, postmarked 26 October 1972.

October 25, '72

Dear Gloria and Ord:

It is high time that I am writing to you.  I had filled in what little I knew about the LeMasters, in the material I had ready for you, on the history of the family you wrote about.  I took a Shelby County book, recently published, and your material to the re-union in September, hoping you would be there.  When I showed the history Art had compiled the relatives there wanted to copy it.  I am wondering if they have sent it to you.  Ora LeMaster, Garth's wife has it.  She is to be sure that I have it returned to me.

The county book has some information on part of the LeMaster - Young family, from grand father Luman Walker's side.  Several LeMaster names are mentioned in it.  I'll enclose what little I have found.  I do not know the family history as I should.  Aunt Emma knew so much more than I do.  She was in the family twelve years before I was.  She passed away in Feb. 1956.  I think I mentioned in my letter to you that there was a book printed by another LeMaster with the Luman W. LeMaster family in it but not much detail.  No one seems to who got the book but Art had it.  It had the LeMaster crest in it.

We just had a shock as my brother's son Jack passed away.  He was our 'right hand' in all our affairs.  He was in Bergen Norway touring when he had a heart attack and passed away.  It took three weeks for the casket to reach Sidney.  He was more a son than a nephew to me.

I am sorry not to be of more help.  We just had a call last week from Jessie Whitacre that her brother, I think Clyde, passed away.  He lived in Findlay Ohio.  Whitacres are from Grandma LeMasters family.

The history Art & Maud Phillips compiled has more information & I hope you can get it some time.

Sorry we missed seeing you in September.  We had a nice get together.

We are still at 206 Bon Air Dr so come to see us.

Love,

Aunt Helene 

---

This letter, postmarked 26 October 1972, was written by my father's great grandaunt, Helene (GARMHAUSEN) LeMASTER, widow of Vernon Walker LeMASTER.

1. The Ora LeMaster is Ora Lee (BRADY) LeMASTER, wife of Garth Luman LeMASTER.  Garth was a son of Clarence and Ferry May (BICKEL) LeMASTER.

2. Aunt Emma is Emma (GARMHAUSEN) LeMASTER, wife of Ord Otterbein LeMASTER.  She was Helene's aunt, and married into they LeMaster family in 1907, while Helene married into it in 1917.

3. The Art LeMaster is Arthur Raymond LeMASTER, brother of Vernon and Ord LeMASTER.  He had died December 16, 1971.  He authored a family history circa 1960 along with his sister, Maud (LeMASTER) PHILLIPS.

4. The Jessie WHITACRE is the daughter of Frederic E. and Caroline Bishop (CHEW) WHITACRE.  Caroline was a sister to Mary Keziah (CHEW) LeMASTER, wife of Luman Walker LeMASTER (and mother to Vernon, Ord & Arthur, et al.)

Amanuensis Monday is a daily blogging theme which encourages the family historian to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Amanuensis Monday is a popular ongoing series created by John Newmark at Transylvanian Dutch.

Wedding Wednesday: Ora Lee Brady Weds Garth L. LeMaster

Source: Commercial-Review, Portland, Indiana, May 11, 1942, page 3

Ora Lee Brady Weds Garth L. LeMaster In Home Ceremony

In a pretty ceremony, performed at 8 o'clock Saturday evening at the home of Mr. and Mrs. G.W. Logan on East Main street, Miss Ora Lee Brady became the bride of Garth Luman LeMaster, both of Portland.

Rev. J.H. Nall, pastor of the First United Brethren church, read the impressive single ceremony in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Elvin LeMaster, J.C. Downey and Mr. and Mrs. Logan.

The bride, who is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Brady, wore a blue crepe street length dress with beige accessories.  Her flowers were a corsage of sweetpeas and rosebuds.  Her attendant, Mrs. Elvin LeMaster wore a rose crepe with beige accessories.  The groom, who is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence LeMaster, was attended by Mr. LeMaster.

The bride is a graduate of the class of 1939 from the Portland high school and Mr. LeMaster graduated from the Jackson township high school the same year.

The young couple will reside in Union City where the groom is employed.

Wedding Wednesday – a great way to display those old wedding photos or scan wedding invitations and announcements! Suggested by Carol of Reflections from the Fence and in use by several genealogy bloggers.

When You Break The Microfilm Reader, It's Time To Go Home

Microfilm reader at Jay County Public Library

My first research trip of 2011 turned out to be a productive one.  I had planned a visit to the Jay County Public Library in Portland, Indiana in order to obtain copies of obituaries from the local newspaper.  Prior to my trip, I had created a "to-do list" using the features of my RootsMagic database.

Though my focus was going to be strictly on obituaries, I decided to contact the Jay County Historical Society via email to see if by chance someone could come in on Saturday and let us look around.  Normally, the museum is only opened through the week.  On my last research trip, the microfilm reader at the library stopped working, and I wanted to have a back up plan in case it was broken again.

My dad wanted to go with me on this trip, and I was excited to have him come along.  He's been getting interested in family history again, reading my blog daily, doing off site research and preparing mini-history books on our ancestors.  We met at 7 a.m. in the morning and headed out to Portland.

Arriving at the library, my cell phone rang and it was Tom Young from the Historical Society letting me know that he could open the museum for us and let us do some research.  We agreed to meet at 10 a.m., so that still gave dad and I a few hours at the library.

As I quickly began to scour the local newspapers, which stretch back into the 1880s, I was pleased with the rate of success.  At only $0.15 per copy, these obituaries are a bargain.  I only wish that the entire collection of these small town newspapers were online somewhere, such as Ancestry, so that I could do an every name search and locate tidbits of information about the daily lives of the families.  The society notes in the earlier newspapers are great sources of information.

Just before 10 a.m., we headed down the Historical Society, where we met Tom.  My dad and Tom graduated from Portland High School in the same class, and as we talked we also realized that we have a distant connection through the Haley-Easterday families.  Tom mentioned that he has read my blog, always nice to hear that as well.  Will have to see what more information I could share with Tom about the Haley and Easterday families.

I wanted to focus on the records of the township schools at the museum, and right away dad found a school photo from 1931-32 of Mt. Zion school in Noble Township that had included his mother, Ruth Pauline Haley.  Fortunately, someone had taken the time to identify each and every person in the photo.  Very serendipitous to find such a picture right off the bat.

We spent about two hours at the museum, where I obtained copies of anniversary notices from the local newspapers, recipes submitted by family members to locally-published cookbooks, funeral home records and marriage supplemental transcript records.  Someone had taken the time to print these from the courthouse and place them in binders at the Historical Society, giving me access to information that normally would have been locked up at the courthouse on a weekend.

It's easy to get so involved in your research that you forget to eat, but around noon we decided that we'd better not overstay our welcome with Tom. We thanked him for letting us research on Saturday, and headed to lunch for a sandwich.

After lunch, we called my aunt Juanita and uncle Harold, and found out they were home.  We were able to visit with them for a good couple of hours, sharing the information we had just discovered.  Dad gave Juanita a booklet he had put together on the Lemasters family, including records on our ancestors' Civil War service.  Harold and Juanita shared some memories about the members of the families in the obits I had discovered.  My cousin Mark and his wife and daughter showed up right as we were leaving, and it was good to see them again.  Dad told them about this blog, so hopefully they will check it out and see some of the information we've discovered.

Then it was back to the library for a couple more hours of research.  Dad was digging into the plat maps and the city directories while I was burning up the microfilm reader printing obituaries.  As in the morning, was able to make great headway.  Just around 4 p.m., however, the microfilm reader decided it was time to surrender.  The reel just refused to advance forward or backwards. That was my cue that it was time to call it a day.  After notifying the staff of the problems, we decided to pack it in and call it a day.

We called my uncle Paul and aunt Betty, found out they were home, and stopped by for a visit on the way out of town.  We again shared the research and gave them a copy of the family history dad had put together.  Uncle Paul remembered some stories and shared a few tidbits about the family members whose obituaries I had obtained.  Cousin Nancy stopped by and we found out she is getting married in June; also saw cousin Phil briefly.

It was a long day, but a good day from a research standpoint.  Now I just have to source the data, and will post copies of the obituaries on the blog.

Finds from the visit to the Jay County Public Library:

• Information regarding the 1949 polio epidemic in Portland, something I want to document as it affected my family
• Obituary of Patty Lou LeMaster, age 12, from the November 1, 1945 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Maxine Elizabeth LeMaster, age 10, from the April 4, 1931 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• LeMaster, Sr., age 77, from the January 14, 1980 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Clarence Harrison LeMaster, age 75, from the November 29, 1963 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Elvin Cooper LeMaster, age 87, from the May 17, 2000 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Garth Luman LeMaster, Sr., age 76, from the February 6, 1998 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Bertha A. (LeMasters) Hercules, age 69, from the January 2, 1962 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of John Leland LeMaster, Jr., age 50, from the March 28, 1973 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of William A. LeMaster, age 54, from the October 16, 1978 edition of The Commerical-Review.
• Obituary of Roger A. LeMaster, age 45, from the March 6, 1972 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Bertha (LeMasters) Yaeger, age 47, from the March 17, 1922 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Beulah S. (LeMasters) Rockwell, from the July 18, 1940 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Catherine Elizabeth (Lemasters) Wehrly, from the December 26, 1911 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Ralph V. LeMaster, age 73, from the February 1, 1996 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Floyd LeMasters, Sr., from the February 12, 1982 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Mary Elsie (LeMasters) Atkinson, age 70, from the June 5, 1942 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Ord Otterbein LeMasters, from the September 15, 1937 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Rachel (Lemasters) Cunningham, from the March 12, 1913 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Maude (LeMasters) Phillips, from the September 16, 1968 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Matthias Jefferson Atkinson, age 59, from the August 25, 1923 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Ferry Mae (Bickel) LeMaster, age 86, from the July 21, 1978 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Ora Lee (Brady) LeMaster, age 87, from the April 16, 2008 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Clara L. (Burkey) LeMaster, age 90, from the October 31, 1985 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Dr. William Anderson Chew, from the January 7, 1914 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Carrie V. (Haley) Thornburg, age 98, from the August 6, 2003 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Obituary of Larry LeMaster, age 24, from the February 28, 1974 edition of The Commercial-Review.
• Wedding announcement of Ora Lee Brady and Garth L. LeMaster from the May 11, 1942 edition of The Commercial-Review.

Finds from the visit to the Jay County Historical Society:

• Photograph of my grandmother, Ruth Pauline Haley, int he Mt. Zion School of Noble Township, 1931-32.
• Funeral record of Frank Haley, August 1, 1937 from the Baird Funeral Home.
• Marriage supplemental record of Pearl M. Metzner to Edward H. Baumgartner from June 2, 1915.
• Marriage supplemental record of Archibald E. Chew from October 27, 1909.
• Marriage supplemental record of Mamie Petry from October 12, 1907.
• 45th Anniversary announcement of Mr. and Mrs. Lisle Wehrly, from April 1, 1969.
• 50th Anniversary announcement of Mr. and Mrs. Vern Haley, from March 3, 1966.
• LeMaster entries in the 1927 Jay County Directory
• LeMaster entries in the 1941 Portland, Indiana City Directory
• LeMaster entries in the 1949 Portland, Indiana City Directory

I'm looking forward to planning out my next research trip.