The Dovel Family, Longtime Friends

Families in Auburn knew each other quite well spanning generations.  Such was the case for the Dovel Family with the Kerns and McPherrens and later the Elys and Steinheiders.

Elmer and Gertrude Dovel moved to Auburn about 1910 when plumbing was a growing business. Apparently Elmer was highly skilled and soon established his own business. They lived in a large house at 1412 N Street.  They had three children, Irvin "Tiny" Dovel,  Inez Dovel Steinheider, and Doris Dovel.  They were active in the Methodist church, Auburn Schools, and community activities.

Tiny's Cafe, later became Darling's

Tiny was the oldest child, three years older than Gene Ely.  He worked with his dad in the Phillips 66 gas/oil business.  In the early 1950s Tiny expanded his operations by adding a restaurant near the viaduct, called "Tiny's Phillips 66 Drive-In."  Initially, it was like a truck stop, but everyone in town gathered there.  The first building had three food booths and a counter, with the end stool reserved for Tiny himself.  Later, they expanded with the large square building, and at some point they got rid of the gas pumps. 

Gene ate lunch with the boys at Tiny's for many years.  In fact, Tiny had a special room for his buddies to eat together with him.  Tiny weighed over 300 pounds, and thus personally advertised for the quality of the food in his establishment.   After every school event, kids flocked to Tiny's for something to eat, jukebox music, and most importantly "to be seen."  Going to Tiny's was just as important as going to the game... home or away.

After Tiny's death, the Darling family bought the business and operated it for many years.  Although officially the name had changed, to this day, people who understand Auburn's history prefer to call it "Tiny's."

A license plate decoration ca 1955

Tiny had a unique business sense.  He was called a Phillips 66 jobber, whatever that means.  He always wore overalls, specially made for a man of his size, so he had them embroidered with "Phillips 66" on the back.  He had every type of advertising trinket such as matchbooks, pencils, pens, and later T-shirts.  I've seen some of them on e-bay as collectibles.  We had dozens of such items over the years in our house.  On some he listed his business phone number, in the days before Auburn had dial phones.  What was it?  "66" of course!! 

Inez Dovel was an accomplished musician specializing in piano.  As a young child, she was the accompanist for many church events and nearly all school activities.  When the McPherren family moved to Auburn in 1930, she and Marge became friends and often shared the duties of accompanists.

Inez was a year ahead of Marge and Gene at AHS.  Here she is as a senior in 1932. It's amazing how recognizable she is. 



After attending college, Inez married Roy Steinheider and they returned to Auburn where they had one son, Robb.  Roy was in the insurance business and Inez taught piano to future musicians in her home at the corner of 16th and J.  Of course, the Ely children were among those chosen.  She was known as the best piano teacher in town, and also the toughest.  I felt additional pressure to perform since she was friends with my mother.  It didn't seem to bother Anne or Joe that much, though!

When the Ely family needed an organist at the Catholic Church for a wedding or special occasion, Inez was happy to fill in.  And from time to time, Marge would help Inez out at the Methodist Church too. 

Inez Steinheider about 2005

Here is the on-line obituary I found from 2008.

Inez Steinheider, age 94 of Auburn, passed away Sunday, November 30, 2008 at the Good Samaritan Society-Auburn. She was born December 26, 1913. 

Inez's parents were Elmer and Gertrude (Robertson) Dovel. Inez graduated from Auburn High School and University of NE and attended Christian College in Columbia, MO. She married June 4, 1937 to Roy Steinheider in Auburn, NE. They had 1 son, Robb. Inez and Roy lived in Auburn, NE. Roy died in 1997. Inez entered the Good Samaritan Center where she died at the age of 94 years, 11 months and 4 days.
Preceding her in death were her parents and a brother Irvin.
Survived by son Robb and wife Sue of CA. grandson Fritz and wife Amy of IN. 6 grandchildren and a sister Doris Dovel.
Graveside Memorial Services held Dec. 9, 2008 at Sheridan West Cemetery near Auburn, NE. Inurnment of ashes followed.

The Kerns Daughters

Laura Ely Kerns (Gene Ely's mother, born 1883) was the second of thirteen children of James W. and Alice Crowley Kerns.  She had a sister, Tessa, born in 1889 who died of diphtheria in 1892, when Laura was 9.  When she was 16, her next sister, dear Aunt Alice, was born.  And shortly thereafter, three more little girls came along, Kathryn, Emily, and Mercedes.

 Many of you may remember visiting Aunt Alice who was at the Good Samaritan Home in Auburn in the 1980s.  Although she had physical limitations in her later years, her mind was sharp.  Alice and Marge Ely were close friends and spent many hours chatting, laughing, and enjoying each other. 

Alice Francis Kerns Flack graduated from Auburn High School in 1918.  At the time of her graduation, her brothers were going to war (World War I) and J.W. wanted Alice to take a leadership role in the lumber yard.  She did, of course, and proved herself to be quite capable.  She was a fixture among business people in Auburn for many decades.

Alice remembered much from the early days of Auburn.  She recalled the bricking of Courthouse Avenue since her father ordered all the materials.  Such an improvement was a major event for the community.  The boulevard was completed about 1910 and has withstood the traffic (including parades) for over 100 years!

Be sure to enlarge the 1912 photo to see the beautiful detail on the girls' dresses.  We know that their mother did much crocheting, and perhaps she did some of the handwork on the dresses.  They have lovely jewelry on too. 

The Kerns Sisters in 1912:  Top clockwise:  Laura, Kathryn, Mercedes, Emily, and Alice

Here they are together in 1955 in the Ely house. Emily lived in Omaha while the others spent their lives in Auburn.

Kathryn Codington, Emily Guthman, Alice Flack, Laura Ely, and Mercedes Sanders.

1976 Gene, Kathryn, Buzz, Alice, Edith

The Kerns aunts doted upon the Ely nephews throughout their lives.

***

A future post will focus on the J.W. Kerns Lumber Company.

James W. Kerns

How did the Kerns branch get to Nebraska?

A key figure in our family history is James W. Kerns, who was Gene Ely's maternal grandfather.  

We have a genealogy book prepared by the relatives in Illinois during the 1980s that has more about his background.  In a nutshell, his parents, Peter and Mary Kerns,  came from Ireland in the 1840s with their four children.  For a short time they lived in New York and then on to Illinois.  In this country, they had six more children.  James was the seventh child in the family, born in LaSalle County, Illinois.

At age 17, about a year after his father's death, James headed west to work.  He returned to Illinois to marry Alice Crowley on Christmas Day in 1879, somewhat unusual but allowed in the church due to their travel schedule.  They returned to Omaha by train and eventually moved to Calvert (now Auburn).  Twelve of their 13 children were born in Auburn.  Their second oldest was Laura Sophia Kerns Ely,  Gene Ely's mother.

J.W. Kerns Grows Up
told to Anne Ely Kenlon by Mary Alice Ely,
April 2003

James Washington Kerns (known to Mary Alice as "Grandpa") grew up on a farm  near Mendota, Illinois, a younger son in a large Irish family. Several of the older boys had been born in Ireland, but the family had come to the U.S. by the time young J.W. was born. The older brothers were responsible for most of the farm work, so young J.W. set out west after the Civil War and found work with the Chicago Lumber Company's new lumber yard in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Eager to work his way up in the business, he started to attend night school at a business college in Omaha. He had to borrow his boss's horse in order to get across the river to school. He came out of class one night to find the horse had been stolen....so he had to work many extra hours to pay off the loss.

Eventually he was put in charge of the Chicago Lumber Company's new lumber yard in Phelps City, Missouri, near the banks of the Missouri River. Now a young businessman, he began to turn his attention to his personal life, and remembered the Crowley family who lived down the road from the Kerns farm back in Illinois.

He had always liked the older Crowley sisters, and started writing letters to them in hopes of striking up a romance with one or the other. The girls responded at first, but eventually turned their attentions to the Murphy brothers who lived nearby. Seeing her older sisters snub J.W., young Alice Crowley felt sorry for him and started responding to his letters herself, though he was five years older than she. Eventually they fell in love and were married on Christmas day in 1879.

The young couple set up their first household in Phelps City, and then a major flood on the Missouri River wiped out the lumber yard. The Chicago Lumber Company decided to re-build, but not in Phelps City...instead, they chose the nearby town of Auburn, where the Union Pacific railroad had just come through. By now the couple had the first of their 13 children, (Edward) Mark, and settled in a house on the south side of Auburn. J.W. used to walk to the lumber yard each day, cutting an angled path through the settlement...the same path where he was later instrumental in creating Courthouse Boulevard.

            **********

 

Primary Sources: 

1)  Nebraska State Legislature, 1904-05
Reference:   http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/resources/OLLibrary/Legislature/1903/pages/nelg0118.htm

        J. W. KERNS.

      James W. Kerns, Representative from the Third District, Nemaha county, was born on a farm in La Salle county, Illinois, January 15, 1854. When he was seventeen years of age he came to Nebraska, and from 1871 to 1880 resided in Omaha, and during 1880 was at Phelps, Missouri. In June, 1881, he became a resident of Calvert, now Auburn, which has been his home since then. For one term he was city clerk of Auburn, and served as mayor of the town for one year. He was one of the organizers of, and the first president of the first Independent Telephone company organized in Nebraska. He is the president of the Auburn Canning Co. and also of the Auburn Hotel Co. For a number of years he has been engaged in the lumber and coal business in his home town. In 1879 he was married to Alice J. Crowley, of La Salle county, Illinois, and has a large family consisting of six sons and three daughters. Mr. Kerns is a Republican and is serving his first term in the House.

2.  History of Nebraska

http://www.kancoll.org/books/andreas_ne/nemaha/nemaha-p16.html

The town of South Auburn, formerly Calvert, is located on Sections 27 and 28, Township 5, Range 14, situated on the Burlington & Missouri Railroad, eleven miles from Brownville via wagon road, or fifteen by way of Nemaha City. The sections designated were originally owned by J. L. Smith, J. B. Piper, J. Maxwell and G. R. Reynolds, being purchased by the Lincoln Town Site Company in the early part of 1881, platted July 1, and named in honor of Hon. T. E. Calvert, of the railroad corporation, to which, primarily, it owes its existence. The first settler was J. N. Brust, who, some time prior to its survey, erected a small frame house, near the present depot building, in which he placed a stock of groceries in July, 1881; subsequently, closed out. In June of the same year, the Chicago Lumber Company put up a small building, now used as a dwelling, a lumber yard being established under charge of George D. Cross, who, during the first six months, disposed of 100 cars of lumber, a large part of which was conveyed from Brownville by wagons. Later in the same month, a second lumber yard was opened by J. W. Kerns; and on July 14, the first number of the Calvert Courier appeared, from which time the progress of the new town has been rapid.

3.  The Nebraskana Society
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/resources/OLLibrary/Nebraskana/pages/nbka0155.htm
 ** A couple of errors in this... Tess is missing...  should be "Laura S."
 typo
The Nebraskana Society information is dated 1932.

James Washington Kerns

James W. Kerns, executive and lumber dealer, was born at Ophir, Illinois, January 15, 1854, of Irish ancestry. He is the son of Peter and Margaret (Conlin) Kerns, both of whom are deceased. His father, a farmer, who was born in County Sligo, Ireland, in 1800, came to America in 1846. He died in LaSalle County, Illinois, in 1869.

Margaret Kerns, his mother, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1815. She died in LaSalle County, Illinois, in 1895.

On December 25, 1879, he was united in marriage with Alice Josephine Crowley, at Mendota, Illinois. To this marriage was born the following children: Edward Mark, born December 19, 1880, married to Pearl Shipply; Laura S., March 8, 1883, married Edward H. Ely; Harry Francis, September 11, 1885, died February 9, 1892; Mary Teresa (Tess):  Thomas Leo, September 27, 1889; Albert Benedict., June 15, 1891; James W., December 26, 1892; Lawrence, July 26, 1894; Harold P., May 3, 1898; Alice F., November 16, 1899; Kathryn Marie, May 20, 1902; Emily Elizabeth, January 14, 1905; and Mercedes Leona, May 6, 1907.

A Republican, Mr. Kerns was city clerk of Auburn, and was member of. the Nebraska state legislature, 1903-05. He has been a resident of Nebraska since March, 1872, except for one year, and is at the present time president of the J. W. Kerns Lumber Company. He is a Catholic, and a member of St. Joseph's Church, at Auburn, and the Knights of Columbus. Residence: Auburn.

---

The Ely Farm

The Ely Farm:  Maps and Photos

Here are some very interesting old maps of Nemaha County and the farm.  The large map was photographed at the Nemaha Valley Museum on August 5, 2011 by Karen with Bill Ely pointing out the family farm.  Enlarge it to see the town of Sheridan (yes, this is BEFORE Auburn existed) just above the words "Douglass" and find the farm 2 miles north and 2.5 miles east of Auburn.  You'll also recognize the wandering Nemaha River!

1870s Map of Nemaha County.  See Missouri River on Right and Town of Sheridan Middle Left.

 James F. Ely started with 80 acres in 1868.  He acquired more land when possible and by 1890 had 490 acres.  The map was written in the early 1870s because records show that J.F. Ely bought the H. Seymour land that was foreclosed for $761.65 on April 17, 1873!  See link below and read other things from it too!

Ely Farm is on both side of the road in Douglass Precinct neighboring London

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/newspapers/NSHS/NTEP/neptc042.htm



The above link is very interesting as it contains extractions from the Territorial Newspaper and comments about business and especially about the wagons traveling westward with emigrants.

The original house built by J.F. Ely for his family in the 1870s.  In 1909, Ed and Laura Ely moved into it.

More photos of the house on a future post. Do note the outhouse on the far left!

Ariel View of the farm 100 years after establishment.  Photo April 1967

If you'd like jpgs of these photos so you can enlarge them even more, let me know.  Aren't they great?  Karen

Comparing Hair Styles

Comparing Hair Styles

In looking closer at the 1871 photo of Mary Delay Ely (my great grandmother), something looked familiar.  And then I took another look at my 1961 senior photo from Auburn High School.  Just isn't much more to say, is there???  Enjoy.

Karen Ely Eichstadt AHS Class of 1961:   Mary Delay Ely  about 1871

James and Mary Delay Ely, Pioneers

Part 1:  A Pioneer Family, 
James F. and  Mary Delay Ely

The Ely Family of Auburn Nebraska can be traced back to a 25-year-old Civil War veteran with a wounded leg.  While recuperating in a New York facility called the Old York home,  he caught "Western Fever" (his own words) and ventured out in 1868.   We don't know his exact motivation, but we do know that the Homestead Act had provisions for veterans to eventually own land and also we know that southeastern Nebraska was popular for many people from upstate New York.  The young James traveled by train to St. Joseph Missouri and then by steamboat up the Missouri River to Brownville, Nebraska. Most likely he visited the Office of Land Management there and acquired 80 acres in a farm located 2 miles north and 2.5 miles east of what was then Sheridan, Nebraska. The land could have been abandoned by someone (a common occurrence) and thus available for the young New Yorker.   This rich farmland supported the family for the next 141 years.



Although we don't know how James met his future wife, it is fun to speculate that he met her at the Nemaha County Fair!  We do know that the fair was a social event in 1869 and perhaps a few years before then.  We also know that Joseph and Harriet Maddox DeLay family moved from Annapose County Iowa to Brownville before 1870. Mary was probably the 8th of their 12-17 children as records are unclear about their children.  Some are listed twice, and some dates are out of order or perhaps just typo's.   Their ancestry was French.

James Fitz Ely married Miss Mary A. DeLay in 1869 in Rockport, Mo.  At that time there was no bridge at Brownville, so they would have taken a ferry across the wide Missouri to Nemaha County.  Eventually, they built a house on the farm for their growing family.

They had six children, all born on the farm.  Another post will present more information about their children, Warren (died as an infant), Charles (died as a young man), Hattie, Lucile, Edward, and Maude.  Edward, our grandfather, was the only son to carry forward the Ely surname.

Throughout the years, James acquired more land in the area and had a deep interest in the development of the town of Auburn.  As a Methodist they were members of the London (Bethel) Church but later became active in the First Methodist Church in town. Side note:  One day when I about 7,  Dee and I were playing on the steps of the Methodist Church (while walking to Antioch School).  I discovered a plaque saying that the steps were built in memory of J.F. Ely! 

James was a member of the Nebraska State House of Representative from 1895-1897 with his  biographical sketch below.  He reports that his children are "extremely bright."  This would certainly apply to his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great grandchildren etc!

Sheridan Cemetery, Auburn

James F. Ely
born May 18, 1843
died Sept 1931  age 88
Civil War Veteran Star

Mary (DeLay) Ely
born July 10, 1852
died Oct 7, 1904  age 52

Below is a copy and a link to the interesting obituary for James F. Ely who died at the age of 88  in 1931.  The writing style was common for that time period.  You'll also note that his funeral was at the Methodist Church in Auburn and a quartet of parishoners sang hymns.  In the quartet was a newcomer to the town, F. L. McPherren.    The six pall bearers were some of his grandsons, including Edward H. Ely, Jr. and Eugene Ely (age 16).

Part 2:  More about where James and Mary lived.
Part 3:  More about James' Civil War injury

Obituary from the Nemaha County Herald link and also pasted below.


Member of the Nebraska State Ligislature 1895-1897

McPherren Cousins

The McPherren Cousins

As children we always enjoyed getting together with the McPherren Cousins.  Of course the Ely and Glen families lived in Auburn.  The Howe family lived in Ashland, Nebraska bout 1.5 hours from Auburn in those days.  In the summer, a few times we "exchanged kids" by meeting in Union Nebraska so that some kids went to Ashland and some to Auburn.  The older girls played together, the boys, and the three younger girls.  This way no one had a sibling, only fun with cousins!

In descending birth order:  Mary Janet Howe, Margene Ely, Ginny Howe, John Glen, Karen Ely, Richard Howe, Deanne Glen and in the later photos, Barbara and Bill Banks.

An important part of the Christmas gatherings was singing.  With Marjorie Ely at the piano and photographer Jack Glen clicking away, we have these wonderful photos. The first is from Christmas 1946 in Ashland.

And now a bit older and outside in 1948 in Ashland

Ginny is holding the Howe cat, named Blackey, who was part of their family for 25 years!

When the Ely Family moved to a bigger house in Auburn, we hosted the McPherren Family for Christmas at least twice.  Here we are in 1951.

In July 1953, the Hippman family, Maxine, Herb, Susan and John,  came from New Jersey so we had a wonderful summer reunion.  This photo was taken in the Glen house.  Marjorie was pregnant with Joe at the time.

Back Row:  Helen Banks holding Bill, Herb Hippman, Maxine Hippman, Marshall Howe, Doris Howe, Marjorie Ely, Gene Ely, Jack Glen, Donna Glen
Middle Row:  Susan Hippman, Ginny Howe, Karen Ely, Dee Glen, John Glen Richard Howe
Front Row:  Barbara Banks, Margene Ely, Gertrude McPherren, Field McPherren, Mary Janet Howe, Johnny Hippman.



Unfortunately, after  Grandpa McPherren's death in 1956, and the Howe family's move to Colorado (1957?),  logistics prevented these kinds of gatherings.  I do feel badly that Joe, Anne, and Mary Lee were not able to experience the kind of fun the older McPherren cousins had together.