Tag Archives: Clark

52 Ancestors #29: Inspired by a Facebook Cousin to Seek Kasers

What is a Facebook Cousin?  When a cousin you had never known finds you on Facebook, or the two of you belong to the same local group for where you used to live, you may wind up sharing information about your shared ancestors. A Facebook Cousin was responsible for my pursuing these two Kaser relatives and she gave me information as well.

Austin J. (Jay) Kaser (1884-1949)

I can kind of understand why my father was unfamiliar with this cousin.  After all, Austin Kaser was born 25 years before my father, Paul Kaser. Austin’s first son was only four years younger than my father, but his last son was only four years older than me–so the family was spread out, to say the least.

In writing about Austin Jay’s father, Johnathan Kaser, I pointed out that Austin was born February 27, 1884.  Like his father, Johnathan, Austin lived at home with his parents in Clark (Coshocton County, Ohio) until his mid-twenties, and worked at miscellaneous manual labor jobs.

Austin was one of the early members of the Bloomfield Community band formed in 1898. Many of the Kaser clan, including my grandfather Clifford and his brothers Dave and Ed, played in this band.  Austin, listed in this newspaper article, played the tenor horn and trombone.  Since he was only 14 when the band was formed, it is doubtful that he was an original member.

Bloomfield Community Band

Bloomfield Community Band Newspaper Article 1968

Austin Jay Kaser was married about 1917 or 1918 to Grace Conrad (January1898-July 1964) from nearby Killbuck, Ohio. Grace and Austin had seven boys and three girl between 1884 and 1935. Two of the girls who died in infancy. in a group on Facebook, I came in contact with the daughter of the youngest boy in that family–another Jay– and decided to follow this line of cousins farther out on a limb of the family tree than I usually would. Austin Jay would be my first cousin once removed, and his youngest son, Jay Henry,  a second cousin.

The census reports for 1910 ( when Grace was still living at home with her parents) and for 1920 (after she was married) list her “race or color” as mulatto.  Her father, in 1910, is identified as white, but her mother is listed as mulatto. Creating some confusion, Grace is listed as white on the next two census reports. I am inclined to believe the “mulatto” since it is rare in northern Ohio census reports, and if the census taker were going to err, it would certainly be in the other direction.  I don’t have a picture of Grace, but it appears from other records that she must have been at least 3/4 white, so the fact she was mixed race might now show in a photograph.

I found evidence for her having very little “negro” in her blood (the designation used for black)  in the records for Grace’s mother, Ida McCluggage Conrod. Ida  is listed as mulatto in the 1880 census when she is  four years old. However, in that year, both Ida’s  mother and father are listed as white. It is possible, I suppose, that Ida was adopted. Since my relationship is distant, I’m going to leave all this for someone else to figure out.

With their large family, Austin Jay and Grace must have had a struggle making ends meet since Austin worked mostly as a day laborer. Both of the parents and most of the children completed only the 8th grade in school. One year Austin is listed as an oil field laborer, and another he is listed as a truck farmer, other times just as “laborer.”

The oldest  and third sons, Clarence and Reo, served in World War II, which would have given their parents some anxious moments, but both returned unharmed. Several of the sons died young, however. Only two lived past 60. The oldest, Clarence, apparently was vigorous. He got married when he was 69 years old to a 21-year-old bride. He died four years later, at 73. Ralph, the next to youngest, died in 2005 at the age of 72. Unlike his older brother, he was never married. Daughter Betty, 6th child, lived the longest–she was 79.

The second oldest son, Walter, died at the age of 50, and the fourth son, David, died at the age of 49, just two years after taking a 30-year-old as his second wife. The 4th, 5th and youngest children also died young:  Harold Eugene died at 57, Donald died at 50, and Jay Henry died at 55.

Austin Jay Kaser’s obituary, as transcribed at FindaGrave.com:

The Coshocton Tribune, April 21, 1949 Austin Jay Kaser of Clark Succumbs at Millersburg Hospital

Austin Jay Kaser, 65, of Clark died at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Pomerene Hospital, Millersburg, after a long illness. He was admitted to the hospital March 12 for treatment.
He was born Feb. 27, 1884, near Clark, a son of Jonathan and Amanda Kaser, and was married Nov. 15, 1917, to Grace Conrad, who survives.
He is also survived by seven sons, Pvt. Clarence Kaser, with the United States army in Korea, Pvt. Donald Kaser, Camp Atterbury, Ind., Leland, Harold, Jay and Ralph, all of the home, and Reo of Zanesville; one daughter, Betty, of the home; and one brother, Lester of Clark.
Services will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Clark Methodist church with Rev. Thomas L. Cromwell, pastor of the Millersburg Methodist Church, officiating. Burial will be in the Clark cemetery.
Friends may call at the Elliott funeral parlors, in Millersburg.

J. Henry (Jay) Kaser 1935-1990

The youngest son, J. Henry, who in later years wrote his name as Jay H., was born in 1935, when his mother was 37 years old.

Although his mother and father and his siblings lacked a high school graduation, Jay would go on to graduate from Clark High School in May of 1952, [three years after his father died] the only one of Austin Jay and Grace’s children to graduate high school.  While in high school, he was a star on the basketball team. The school principal had to buy him basketball shoes because his family couldn’t afford them. He also performed in the senior class play. Apparently he liked drama, because in 1953, he performed in a community production in Clark, Ohio.

In 1956, Jay Kaser joined the army. By 1957, he had been assigned to the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii.  His daughter tells me that he broke a leg playing softball in the army and spent most of his time recuperating in a wheelchair, so he did not see active duty in Korea.

In July 1957, he was married in Richmond, Indiana, although his bride, Debbie had grown up in Killbuck and the couple continued to live in Holmes and Coshocton County. (Check out that Ford Fairlane in the background!)

Jay Kaser

Jay and Debbie Kaser, Late 50s

He was back on the softball field in 1963, when there are reports in the Coshocton Tribune of his pitching skills on the team known as the Coshocton Moose.

Adult softball was a very big deal in the area.  I remember spending many summer evenings during the 1950s on the Killbuck HIgh School field watching my uncle and others play softball. It drew a large crowd.

In 1965, Jay and his wife had one child when Debbie filed for divorce, but they reconciled and never divorced. He died in a nursing home in Millersburg in 1990 when he was only 55 years old.

How I Am Related

  • Vera Marie Badertscher is the daughter of
  • Paul Kaser, who is the son of
  • Clifford Kaser, who is the brother of
  • Johnathan Kaser, who is the father of
  • Austin Jay Kaser, who is the father of
  • Henry J. (Jay Henry) Kaser

Notes on Research

  • United States Census Reports. 1900, Clark, Coshocton, Ohio; 1910, Clark, Coshocton, Ohio; 1920, Mechanic Twp, Holmes, Ohio; 1930, Clark, Coshocton, Ohio; 1940, Clark, Coshocton, Ohio
  • “Ohio Births and Christenings, 1821-1962.” Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2009, 2011. Index entries derived from digital copies of original and compiled records. (Austin J.)
  • The Times Recorder, (Zanesville Ohio) “Austin J. Kaser Rites Saturday” 23 April 1949, pg 3.
  • The Coshocton Tribune (Coshocton Ohio) “Austin Jay Kaser of Clark Succumbs at Millersburg Hospital”, 21, April 1949. (Transcribed at Find A Grave.)
  • The Coshocton Tribune (Coshocton Ohio) 18, July 1957, “Personals” details of Jay Henry’s military service in that year.
  • The Coshocton Tribune (Coshocton Ohio) 2, April, 1965, Jay Henry – Divorce filed.
  • Find a Grave.com
  • U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 Registration State: Ohio; Registration County: Coshocton; Roll: 1832033; Draft Board: 1 (Austin J.)
  • U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; State Headquarters: Ohio  (Austin J.)
  • U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 2 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. (Jay Henry Lived in Killbuck in 1935.)
  • Ohio, Birth Index, 1908-1964 (Jay Henry)
  • Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1932, 1938-2007, (Jay Henry) Certificate: 092514; Volume: 28362
  • Except for the places noted, information came from Ancstors.com
  • Jay Henry’s daughter provided other details of his life.

52 Ancestors: #27: Jonathan Kaser, Farmer and Stone Mason

Jonathan Kaser 1855-1949

Jonathan Kaser, older brother of my grandfather, Cliff Kaser, was born near Clark, Ohio and spent his life there, farming and sometimes employed as a stone mason.

To bring you up to date, I have been writing about my father, Paul Kaser’s, uncles, aunts and cousins because I grew up knowing nothing about his close relatives, and he did not seem to know them either.  I am still puzzling over whether that might have been (at least partially) because Cliff Kaser had a falling out with the family.  Certainly part of it was the big age difference between my father and most of his cousins, since Clifford was one of the two youngest in the family, and my father was born 15 years after Clifford was married.

You can also read about their parents, Joseph Kaser II, and Catharine Sampsell.

Jonathan was one of those young men who was slow to leave the nest. He lived with his parents in Clark, working as a day laborer by the time he was 20 (and probably before that).  On July 30, 1883, at the age of 28, he married Amanda Randles who was only 17 and a half years old.

Amanda was already pregnant when they married, as the couple had their first son, Austin Jay, on February 27,1884,  seven months after the wedding.

Son Lester was born1889 and on March 4, 1891 (52 years before my birthday!) Leroy, known as Roy was born.

According to census records, the two oldest only went through 8th grade, but in the 1900 census we see that Jay (16) and Lester (11) were already listed as day laborers. The 1900 census was taken in the summer, but only (Leroy) Roy (9) is listed as at school. Their father, Jonathan is listed as a day laborer, as he was when he was still at home with his parents. However, since his occupation was stone mason,  he could have been working at that along with farming when the census was taken. As I have noted before, the Kaser clan stuck close together. Jonathan’s neighbor was his brother David.

Jonathan and Amanda made the newspaper in 1908 for winning prizes at the Coshocton County Fair, held in August. He had the “largest stock corn” and she made the best butter and tomato pickles and grew the best potted plants!

Jonathan’s father, Joseph Kaser II, died in 1900.  By 1910, Jonathan was listed as a stone mason, and his two sons, Austin (25) and Lester (21) were still at home and working at odd jobs and farm labor.  In the 1910 census, his next door neighbor is Bessie Lowe, daughter of his brother David and David lives nearby, as does his mother Catharine. The year after that census, Jonathan’s mother Catharine died at the age of 82.

In 1920, when he was 52, his occupation was once more listed as farmer, although he continued to live in the same place, still near David Kaser, and also near the Sutherlands (his sister Emma).  The boys had all left home by the summer of 1920.

Even though Jonathan was ten years older than his wife, Mandy, she died first–in 1924 at the age of 56. By 1930, when he was 74, his occupation was once more listed as stone mason,  he was listed on the census report as single but the line should have read ‘widowed’).

Johnathan did not enjoy his career long after that last census.  In 1931, he apparently suffered a stroke, and needed the full time care of family.  In 1932, a front page obituary in the Coshocton Tribune announced his death at the home of his son Lester. He left behind three sons, ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Jonathan Kaser Obituary

I am going to follow up on a couple of descendants of Jonathan, because as I was growing up, I heard the name of a man named Kaser. When I asked my father, he did not think he was directly related. However, I have recently met a Kaser cousin through Facebook, and in doing this research on Jonathan, have learned that we were indeed related to Jay Kaser.

How I Am Related

  • Vera Marie Badertscher is the daughter of
  • Paul Kaser, who is the son of
  • Clifford Kaser, who is the brother of
  • Jonathan Kaser

Notes on Research

Census records from 1860 (German Twp, Holmes Co, Oho); 1870 (Clark, Coshocton Co., Ohio);1880 (Village of Bloomfield (Clark), Coshocton Co, Ohio; 1900 (Clark, Coshocton Co. Ohio); 1910, Clark Twp, Coshocton Co., Ohio;1920 (Clark, Coshocton Co., Ohio); 1930 (Clark, Coshocton Co., Ohio).

Ohio, Marriages, 1803-1900,Jordan Dodd, Liahona Research

Coshocton Daily Age, “Winners Announced,”, continuation of front page article,  August 29, 1908

Coshocton Tribune, “Clark Resident Succumbs After Year’s Illness”, front page, October 17, 1932.

Ohio, MOLO Obituary Index, 1811-2012

All of these sources were found at Ancestry.com

52 Ancestors: #26 The Kaser Bachelor Farmers: Otto and Wilbert Kaser

Otto Kaser 1883-1938

Wilbert Kaser 1886-1946

Garrison Keillor frequently talks about the Norwegian Bachelor Farmers, and the Kaser brothers Otto and Wilbert fit a similar description for much of their lives, except they were German. I think of them as the Kaser Bachelor Farmers.

Sometimes reading official reports, it looks like they have moved, but actually the farm stays the same and the address, township names and town names change. The farm that the Kasers lived on was on R.D.#2 out of Clark, Ohio, earlier known as the Sugarcreek Road. Although they were enumerated in the German Township, Holmes County census, their mailing address was Baltic, Ohio, a village which is in a corner where Holmes, Coshocton and Tuscarawas Counties meet. The geography is even more confusing than Clark, Ohio which is split by the Holmes County/Coschocton County line. The farm was reportedly two miles from Baltic.

I imagine that Otto and Wilbert were close brothers from the start, since they were sandwiched between two older sisters and a younger sister.  The two boys were just three years apart in age, but their older brother Henry was ten years older than Wilbert.

Otto and Wilbert, lived  with their mother Mary Rost Kaser and the other siblings when their father Cornelius Kaser died in 1900 in his early 50s. Although their older brother Henry married and older sister Ellen (Ella) married Robert Kleinknecht, the two brothers remained unmarried and stayed with their mother through their twenties and thirties.

Another tragic death in their family occurred in 1917, when their older sister Ellen (Ella) died, leaving five children and her husband. For a time, their mother Mary Kaser and the two brothers were joined by Ellen’s oldest daughter, Florence, who was nine years old when her mother died.

It seems that Wilbert, who only went to school through the fifth grade, was a farmer all his life. Otto, on the other hand, started as a day laborer (probably on neighboring farms) when he was a teen, but spent at least a short time working at the local railroad station before he took up the occupation of “timberman,” as his obituary described him.  Since the Kaser farm had timber in addition to farmland, he may have gotten his start on their own farm.

When their mother died in the 1920’s (probably late in that decade), and the only sister still at home, Elsie, married Allen Winklepeck, the two sons continued to live on the farm. Although Otto was listed as head of household, it was Wilbert who was doing the farming, while Otto worked as a lumber man.

They were both strapping young men–six feet tall and heavy set.  They were fair, Otto  blond and Wilbert with light brown hair. Unfortunately, I have no idea what they did outside of work on their farms. At least they did not participate in activities notable enough to make the newspaper as far as I can find.

It seemed to be a good arrangement for both of them, until Otto suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died at 53 years old.  Wilbert, just turning 50, married a woman 18 years younger than he was.  Had he long wanted to marry Della and put it off because of his responsibilities? Or did he need help on the farm now that he was alone?  Was his health beginning to fail?  I can only wonder why he married so soon after Otto’s death, and after being a bachelor farmer for so long.

At any rate, Della May Lockhart and Wilbert Kaser were married by 1940. Still tall (6′) and hefty (170 lb), in 1942 when World War II broke out and he filled out his draft card, the now 54-year-old Wilbert had turned gray.  Della moved in to the Kaser homestead.

I hope they had a happy time in their short marriage, because by 1945 just six years after they were married, Wilbert was stricken with heart disease and he was hospitalized in Massillon, Ohio, when he died in March, 1946. He was buried at the New Bedford Lutheran Church cemetery where so many Kasers are found.

I don’t know if my father ever knew the Kaser Bachelor brothers who were his cousins, and I have not followed the breadcrumbs to discover what happened to that farm that had been tended by Cornelius and Mary and their two sons.

How I Am Related

  • Vera Marie Badertscher is the daughter of
  • Paul Kaser, who is the son of
  • Clifford Kaser, who is the brother of
  • Cornelius Kaser, who is the father of
  • Otto Kaser and Wilbert Kaser

Notes on Research

Census records from  1900 German, Holmes Co. Ohio); 1910, German Twp, Holmes Co, Ohio; 1920, Clark, German Twp Holmes Co, Ohio, 1930, Clark, Holmes Co., Ohio, 1940, Clark, Holmes Co., Ohio.

Democratic Standard Newspaper, Coshocton Ohio 13 July 1900, page one, “Fractured His Neck.”

Death Record.U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1700s-Current; Ohio, Births and Christenings Index, 1800-1962

World War I Draft Registration Card for Wilbert Kaser. United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.

World War II Draft Registration Cards for Henry J. Kaser, Willbert Ralph Kaser and Otto Kaser

United States, Selective Service System. Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, Record Group Number 147. National Archives and Records Administration.

Wilbert Kaser Obituary, Piqua Daily Call, March 21, 1946

Otto Kaser Obituary, Coshocton Tribune, “Native of Holmes County Taken by Death in Hospital”, January 15, 1938, page one.

All of these records were accessed through Ancestry.com