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  St. Joseph Catholic Church, Wright, Ottawa County, Michigan I have been researching the lives of the siblings of Benjamin Kaufman in an effort to view Benjamin's life in relationship to what was happening with his family.  Benjamin had three full siblings, Elisabeth, Lewis and John and six half siblings from his mother, Catherine Omlor's, second marriage to Anthony Armock: Nicholas, Theobald, Mary, Anthony, Christian and Catherine.  This post will deal with attempting to find the death date of Elisabeth.   Elisabeth was born to Lewis and Catherine Omlor Kaufman in Ohio in 1836. Unable to find a birth record I am relying on the baptismal record from the St. Alphonsus Ligouri Catholic Church in Peru, Ohio for an approximate birth date.  She was baptized in that church on August 9, 1836, the sponsors being her grandparents, Theobald and Elisabeth Stutzman Omlor.  Elisabeth's father died when she was four years old and her mother remarried Anthony Armock.  The family farmed i

On April 6, 1917 the United States went to war. During the Great War Americans would be called on to give their sons and daughters to the cause, to conserve food and to donate money among other things.  Total war would demand a total commitment to fight that war. (Pifer, 2017) Food conservation was necessary for several reasons.  In the US there had been a problem with poor grain harvests in the years leading up to the war.  The fighting forces would need food as they were mustered and trained in the US and sent overseas to fight.  The Allies were starving after suffering through years of war and food needed to be sent to them.  In order to meet these demands food conservation became the responsibility of every American.  In order to meet this responsibility every woman was asked to sign a Food Pledge.   Pifer (2017) explains the elements of the Food Pledge.  Americans were to eat one wheatless meal per day, eat beef, mutton and pork only once a day and in smaller portions.  The homema

 While indexing the 1918 Janesville Daily Gazette I ran across this article: April 10, 1918, page 6 The Village of Avalon, Wisconsin lies 10 miles east of the city of Janesville.  Although we all know that electricity was a very recent discovery it is really hard to believe that it came to these smaller communities just some 100 years ago.   What would change if we did not have electricity?           How would you take a bath, read a book or perform chores in the   dark?          How would you cook or boil water without electricity?          How would you heat your home without electricity?          How would you clean your clothes?           How would you store food? Candles, kerosene lamps and fireplaces provided light in homes prior to electricity.  A person had to carry a candle or lamp with them at night to move around the house or outside of the house.   To cook or boil water, a fire had to be started or wood added to the stove.  Sometimes women (or children) threw kerosene onto

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