Bertha Northcutt Weisenauer Memory Record

The Old Family Letters

Many moons ago before the internet, cell phones and no long distance charges, people would write letters to each other to keep in touch.  There are several large totes full of  letters and notes between members of our family – our grandmother, great-grandfather, great aunts and uncles and our mother.  Even found some letters from me to my grandmother and mother.  There are some surprises, too including letters from relatives in Ohio that we may not have recognized if it weren’t for all the old family pictures that our grandmother and mother had saved.

One of the most precious booklet we found was the Memorial Record of Bertha Northcutt Weisenauer, our great-grandmother.  She had died in 1938 so my brother, sister and I never knew her.  Here is a picture of our great-grandfather and great-grandmother, I believe is their wedding picture around the year, 1900.

Bertha Northcutt Weisenauer was born on August 30, 1884 in Lebanon, Boone County, Indiana and died on March 6, 1938 in Greentown (Plevna), Howard County, Indiana at home.  Included in the Memorial Record booklet are the newspaper obituaries of her death.

Our great-grandparents, Ed and Bertha Weisenauer, had been married for almost 38 years and had five children including our grandmother.  There are many saved letters between the five children, their dad and my mother to read – a lifetime of memories.

A Most Peculiar Couple

I find the old wedding and obituary write-ups from the 1800s and early 1900s very interesting and fun to read.  The write-ups were much more detailed about the person and/or event than they seem to be today.  I found the obituary write-ups for my great, great, great grandparents are quite entertaining.  William M. Northcutt and Lucinda Gardner were married on September 21, 1853.  They shared a long life together in Union Twp, Hendricks Co, Indiana, she was 75 when she died a couple of years earlier than William.  He was 85 when he passed away.  He was a farmer and Lucinda kept house.
                  
They had six children, Ambrose Dudley Northcutt, their third child, was my great, great grandfather and is pictured to the left.  Quite a handsome man.

Our lineage is:  William M. Northcutt -- Ambrose Dudley Northcutt -- Bertha Northcutt Weisenauer -- Cliffie Weisneauer Shockney -- Joan Smith Beheler and then me.

The youngest two daughters born to William and Lucinda died as infants - one was about a month old and the other died at birth.

Lucinda Gardner Northcutt died October 28, 1911.  She was 75 years of age. Her obituary was written up in the Danville Gazette November 2nd.  It read as follows:

Mrs. Lucinda Northcutt, wife of Wm. Northcutt, died at her home three miles northeast of this place Saturday night from the infirmities of age.  She was 75 years old and leaves a husband and three children, Dudley Northcutt and Mrs. Sarah French, residing in this community, and James Northcutt of Kansas.  Three children are dead.  Mrs. Northcutt had lived in this vicinity since she was twelve years old, coming here from Rush county.  She clung to many of the pioneer ways.  One of her peculiarities was that she would never wear any article of head dress other than a sun bonnet.  She will be remembered in this community as a kind neighbor, ever ready to help others in time of need.  The funeral was preached at the home Monday morning by Rev. John Northcutt, and the remains were interred in the Poplar Grove cemetery.

William M. Northcutt passed away on July 15, 1913.  He was 81 years old.  The write-up by the Danville Gazette on July 17th read as follows:

Wm. Northcutt, 85, living northeast of Lizton, died Tuesday and was buried at the Poplar Grove cemetery yesterday afternoon.  In many ways deceased was a peculiar character.  He never rode on a railroad train and although he lived within three miles of an interurban line he never saw an electrically propelled car.  He had not visited Indianapolis since the early sixties.  During war times he was a southern sympathizer to some extent and one day while in Indianapolis he was roughly handled on account of his political views.  He vowed he would never visit the capital city again and the vow was not broken.  His wife died about a year ago.    

 I hope you enjoyed meeting William M. and Lucinda Northcutt.