Thomas and Rosa Hendryx Family Grave Plot Listing

Click the link to download a PDF file with the full listing of all members buried in the family plot.

Thomas and Rosa Hendryx Gravesite

Thomas and Rosa Hendryx Gravestone from findagrave.com – by Dennis Bell

Thomas C. Hendryx Obituary

Thomas C. Hendryx of Omaha Nebraska obituary. From the Omaha Daily Bee newspaper Friday, November 21, 1902.

The S.S. Donau - a model boat recreation

A custom-made ship model of the German Norddeutscher Lloyd ship S.S. Donau, the ship that Joseph and Juliana Schmidt travelled, along with the Froemel family, from Bremen, Germany to New York City in March of 1879. The model was made by my amazing Great Uncle, Bob Raymond, who at 90 still has the right stuff. He made the model for me during the Summer of 2016 as a thank you for my productive two years of research of his wife's beloved Schmidt family history. While the model is very special, the fact that Bob was able to make it at all is the show stopper. It was a task he had planned before a long spell of ill health, from which his recovery was a joy unto itself. Seeing him work on the project over the months brought a tear to my eyes and I know his wife Maryann was moved as well. To see Bob recover and resume his passion was more precious than the model, and yet every time I look at the ship, I continued to be astounded by the detail and the craftsmanship. In our family, to own a Bob Raymond original is an honor and it will be a fitting legacy of an amazing man. Photo by Jay Lawrence.

Detail views of the ship. Bob used Alpha-bits soup to make the lettering. A clever tool for an imaginative model boat builder. Photo by Jay Lawrence.

Detail views of the ship. The model was hand-made by Bob Raymond. Photo by Jay Lawrence.

Betty Ann Wunn, age 95 – 1920-2016

Betty Ann Wunn, born Moloso, was a longtime resident of Portland, OR. She passed away January 10th, 2016 at the age of 95 years old. She was born in little Addy, Washington, an hour north of Spokane, Washington, on April 30, 1920. Betty’s father was Edgar George Moloso (1888-1961), born in Milaca, Minnesota, and her mother was Anna Louise (1895-1992, born Annie Laurie) Bell Moloso born in Cheney, Washington.

Betty’s family moved to the Portland area in the early 1920’s and her father was offered a job with Union Pacific Railroad. During the 1920’s, the family lived in and around the Parkrose neighborhood of Portland. Betty’s grandparents, Hugh David Bell (1867-1945) and Bertha Peters Bell (1878-1953), also moved to the Portland area and lived down the street from Betty and her parents during her childhood. Betty spent many happy days visiting her grandparents house and playing in her grandfather’s beloved garden.

Like most people of their time, Betty’s life was made harder by the Great Depression and the loss of a job for her father. At one point during that time, the family was homeless and lived in a shack while making subsistence wages working as farm laborers. Her father also became an itinerant car mechanic on the side. Eventually, her father, a master carpenter, was able to afford to build a small house for his family and ended up constructing many of the houses in the neighborhood at 112th and Marx St. in the Parkrose neighborhood.

Betty attended Parkrose High School and graduated as a junior with distinction as the salutatorian of the class of 1937. Betty also served in the court of Job’s Daughters during her youth.

Betty worked as a secretary to a lawyer as her first job out of high school until, unbeknownst to Betty, the lawyer was found to be committing fraud with his clients and attempted to commit suicide. Unfortunately, Betty had to identify the man for the police. She then worked for Barnes Hospital as a clerical assistant which carried her through part of World War II. For the rest of the war, she worked in the personnel department at the Kaiser Shipyard.

On October 12, 1940, Betty wed Otho L. Gentry at Parkrose United Community Church of Christ. Betty and Otho were both avid and skilled dancers and appropriately met on the dance floor, which resulted in a whirlwind courtship. The marriage produced no children and the couple parted ways in 1944. Betty then met Donald Wunn, a former music teacher, who was working at the shipyards as a welding supervisor. The two were married on September 28, 1946, in a small church ceremony. After the war, Donald began working as a musical instrument salesman for the H&L Music Co. in Portland. He eventually started his own business, Don Wunn Music, which was a local institution for 30 years. Over the years, Betty worked at the business in various capacities.

The Wunn’s divorced in 1978 and Betty began her life anew. During the later part of the decade, she worked again as an executive secretary, first in a legal firm, and then later to the owner of the Holiday Inn across from what is now the Moda Center.  She then became Executive Secretary to Albert Gentner Jr., the well respected owner of the both the historic Imperial Hotel, and the iconic Mallory Hotel. She worked in that capacity for 16 years before retiring.

Betty had a special place in her heart for immigrants to the United States and in her capacity at the Imperial Hotel. She had many opportunities to help people navigating the often confusing ways and procedures of their new country. Betty gained many grateful friends by helping those in need. She was invited to many weddings, graduations, and ceremonies over the years by her grateful new-found friends. One became an “adoptive” son, Quoc Van “Jason” Le of Vancouver, WA.

Betty worked a second job for many years to make ends meet by serving people at the concession stands of the Memorial Coliseum and the Civic Stadium. From that community, Betty had many friends who she was still in touch with to her last days. She counted these friends as dear and precious.

Betty loved to travel, having been to Europe, Japan, Mexico, and many regions of the United States. She loved to garden and had a prolific green thumb like her grandfather. She was also an avid reader. She engaged in very deep and long lasting friendships that lasted a lifetime. She seemed to gain friends wherever she went, with many of her friends being many decades younger. In retirement, she spent time volunteering at local schools helping children learn to read and acting as an adult mentor. She also became the neighborhood “mother” and adopted her neighbors. Her house was the focal point of much local activity. She always had something to do, including a project or errand in mind, and a list of interests a mile long.

Betty is survived by her four children: Corwin L. Wunn of Milwaukie; Ricard S. Wunn of Hockinson, Washington; Lindsay A. Wunn of Gresham; and Shelaun A. Norby of Happy Valley. She is also survived by five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her Mother, Father, younger brother Vernon Edgar Moloso, and her granddaughter Chelsea R. Wunn.

Annie (Anna) Bell's Bible, 1907

A Bible given to Annie (Anna) Bell in 1907 by Mr. and Mrs. Singleton as a gift for reading the entire New Testament of the Holy Bible. Annie most likely received the gift when she was living in Hunters, WA with her family. She would have been 12 years old at the time.

Dedication page inscribed by either Mr. or Mrs. Singleton in 1907.

Opened to the Gospel of John and the passage that hopefully caught Annie's eye when she read the entire New Testament in 1907.

Betty Jean Johnson 1929, age 2 (Bettie Moritz Schmidt)

Betty Jean Johnson Moritz Schmidt when she was two years old in 1929. This was before George Johnson Jr., her father, died. The photo could have been taken in the Gordon, NE area. It is unclear where the family lived at that time. Betty Jean was born at the Berryman Ranch in Irwin, NE and later lived in Chadron, NE with her mother and stepfather before coming to Oregon in 1943.

A List of Thomas and Mary Bell's children from the Bell Family Bible

A piece of paper that was pasted into the Bell Family Bible with a list of all of Thomas and Mary Bell's children, including a previously unknown infant, who did not live long enough to be named. The note could have been written by Thomas or Mary Bell.

The exact date of this document is unknown, but based upon Hugh Bell's age of 10 and his birthdate of December 5th, the document  was written sometime in very late 1876 or sometime in 1877. It could have been written as early as  the last Christmas the family spent in Athol, Ontario, Canada or as late as before Christmas the following year. During the Spring of 1877, the family would head for prospector country in California. It would be a journey that would take them across a continent and to live in a new country.

The addition of the date of departure from Ontario and arrival in Greenville, CA would suggest this document was written after their arrival to California, but it could also have been added later. This is also the first time that Thomas has recorded the date of arrival in California. That same information is not listed in his diary or elsewhere. So it seems that it took the group 14 days to travel from Ontario, Canada to California. I have always suspected they took a train and now I am more convinced.

On a separate piece of paper neatly pasted on the bottom of the list was a quote attributed to the Mary, the mother of this clan.

"This is the day when dear ones come and gather around the hearth of home and winded wished fly to say God bless you all on Christmas day." Mary McIntyre Bell.

This inscription could have been any Christmas, but it is more likely to be 1876 or 1877 if it it was paired with this document.

I think from the two specimens, these are two different hands. After studying the handwriting in Thomas' diary, I can conclude with confidence that the note with the children's names and dates of birth is in Thomas' hand and the poetic text below is reasonably Mary's hand since it is attributed and different from the style of the main note.

 This list of Thomas and Mary Bell's children was pasted into a page of the family Bible. It lists each of the children including a previously unknown "infant" born after Donald, aka Danny Bell. The list was most likely written by Thomas with a poetic verse contributed by Mary on a pasted piece of paper. I did some Google searches and it seems that this poem may be original.[/caption]

Jos. Schmidt Injured Monday Morning (Joseph Schmidt)

Note: this article most likely ran in the Humphrey Democrat Newspaper on Friday, October 26th, 1923. From the obituary, it can be inferred that the paper was published weekly, and the date identified for the funeral in handwriting on the clipping was November 2nd. Since the article mentions the funeral as "today" it would indicate November 2nd, 1923, since it was a Friday. The publishing schedule and the handwritten date would agree. Further, if one works backward, the handwritten note on this article of "October 22nd, 1923" would likely correspond to the date of the incident since the story indicates the events happened "Monday Morning" which indicates the same week and October 22nd, 1923, was indeed a Monday. The photocopy came from Maryann Schmidt Raymond. She did not remember who gave her the document.

Jos. Schmidt Injured As Pile of Grain Doors Falls Upon Him

Was Found Unconscious By Manager Maiar*. Extent of Injuries Not Known but Is Resting Easy

At about 10 o’clock Monday morning Jos. Schmidt, who is employed at the Hord Lumber yards, was found in a unconscious condition under a pile of grain doors just east of the north drive to the elevator by Manager Louis Maiar who immediately called for assistance and a physician. The injured man was removed to the home of his son Frank, where he still remains. His condition, being such that he cannot be moved.

The extent of his injuries have not as yet been determined, but it is known that some of his ribs are broken and one of his shoulders blades suffered fractures. He has regained consciousness but is unable to tell anything about the accident himself.

He with Mr. Maiar were that morning preparing a car in which to load grain.  Mr. Schmidt had been at the top of the grain door pile, which is about ten feet in height, shoving off doors onto the track and had enough there to board up the car, with Mr. Maiar being in the car nailing on the doors, did not see the accident, nor did he hear the pile tumble down. Finally, running out of material he got out of the car to investigate what was keeping Mr. Schmidt from bringing him the grain doors, and found him lying on his face under a tier of grain doors, which had toppled over. Just how the accident occurred probably even Mr. Schmidt does not know. When Mr. Maiar found him he was laying near the edge of the driveway with his head and legs from beneath the pile of grain doors, and the supposition is that he probably had descended from the pile where he had been working and in going down the tier on the west side, which was not bound to the other doors, unbalanced, toppled over and caught him unawares as he was walking away from the pile.

He is under the care of physicians and a trained nurse and reports from his bedside are that he is getting along as nicely as could be expected.

* - The obituary that ran soon after this article lists “Mr. Maiar” as “Mr. Maier.” Other source historical documents support the “Maier” spelling.

Compiled and annotated by Adam Wunn (Great, Great Grandson of Joseph and Juliana Schmidt, 2015).

Schmidt family photo c. 1894 in Lexington, Nebraska

The Joseph and Juliana Schmidt Family around 1894. This photo was most likely taken in Lexington, Nebraska while Joseph was stationed in that town while working for Union Pacific Railroad. The photo was unlabeled, but it is pretty clear who most of the people are, but there is also a mystery. The Schmidt's had six living children at this point, but one of them is missing in this particular photo. The missing child is most likely Joseph Jr. Anna is in the back, the child to the left is most likely Frank, then Joseph Schmidt, Juliana, and Carl. Joseph is holding Louis and Juliana is holding Marie. It is unknown why Joe Jr. was missing from the photo. He would have been 9 years old at the time. The photo is a part of the Froemel family collection held by a Froemel family member. Anna Schmidt married Frank Froemel. They were also distant 3rd or 4th cousins.This photo has also been restored; it needed fairly extensive repairs.

 This is such a precious photo of the Schmidt family from around 1894 while the family was living in Lexington, Nebraska. This photo is so precious because it is the only known photo of the whole family during this period of time.

The Schmidt family had six living children by this point, but one of the boys is missing from the photo. A number of family members worked on solving the riddle of who was missing, and the general consensus at this point is that Joseph Jr. is the missing child. This is most likely the case because of the relative ages of each child along with a number of other clues. What follows is the breakdown of the decision making process we went through.

Since Anna and Marie are the only girls and the oldest and the youngest, it is very easy to identify each of them. Joseph and Juliana are also obvious choices. It is the boys that present the only challenge to deciphering this photo. Joseph Jr. (aka Joe, or Black Joe) was born in 1885, Carl was born in 1887, Frank was born in 1889, and Louis (Louie) was born in 1891 (for reference Anna was born in 1879 and Marie was born in 1893). The boy on Joe's lap is older than baby Marie on Juliana's lap, but not by a huge amount. He looks to be about 3 years of age and that is consistent with Louie's age in 1894. You might also notice that Joe has a pretty tight grip on Louie and that would be consistent with the age as well. All of us parents are familiar with wiggly toddlers, and in those days people had to stare at the camera long enough to allow proper exposure of the film and that time standing still seemed unbearable to a toddler.

The boy to the photographer's left of Joe is older that Louie, but again not dramatically older. I have a 5 year old running around my house and this boy fits the size requirement and frankly my child and this child are almost a carbon copy proportion-wise. It seems very likely this is Frank, my great grandfather. He would have been 5 years old at the time, so this seems a likely hypothesis. My child also stands with her hands as Frank does and even puts her chin in the down position. I have a number of photos of her that are strikingly similar. If you look at a number of Frank's photos from later years you can see the similarities with the way he tilts his head, the pursing of the lips, the hand position and those very prominent ears (I inherited those myself). It was suggested by some that Frank is actually in Joseph's lap and that the boy to the left is Carl, but the ages just wouldn't match. There isn't enough distance in age between the two boys to be Carl and Frank and there are two other telling physical characteristics of the boy in the lap who is most likely Louie. One is that he always had those bushy eyebrows and two, he is cross eyed in this photo. You can see that same condition in later photos where we know for sure that Louie is the person pictured. I noticed the cross-eyed condition immediately when I discovered this photo in a family member's collection. It was something I am quite familiar with since I too had crossed eyes as a child. I suffer from Amblyopia and I am pretty sure Louie did as well. At least I now know from which family the condition originated.

The boy to the right of Juliana is either Carl or Joseph. The question really comes down to whether you believe that this child is 7 or 9 years old. Given the relative size and age difference between the child to the left of Joseph and the child in question on the right, they easily look two years apart, but it would be a stretch to say they look 4 years apart. If the child at left is Frank, then the child at right has to be Carl. There just doesn't look to be 4 years between the two boys. Joe Jr. would be 9 years old by this point and I would expect him to be taller than the boys pictured, especially since his 14 year old sister towers so much so above her much younger siblings.

The boys on the left are from the 1894 family portrait which was not labeled. The other two sections (middle and right) are photos of Louie and Frank as children and as adults. The question is whether the two children at left look substantially like the identified children and adults at center and right to be properly identified. The similarities between the photos are pretty striking. It is an amazing blessing to have enough photos to compare the relative ages.

Notes on the Moloso Family

Notes on the Moloso Family • by Kathleen Moloso Marcuson • circa mid 1980's

Note :This version of the document is a word for word retyping of the original typewritten version with a few spelling corrections plus the correction of Kathrine's name as per the handwritten corrections Betty Wunn née Moloso [or Edgar her father] made to the document (the name is often misspelled as some form of “Catharine”). Kathleen Moloso (Frank's daughter and sister of Edgar, Frank Jr., John, and Phillip) is listed here as “Kathaleen” and has been left as such even though other records and Betty's confirmation list the correct spelling of the name as “Kathleen.” Incidentally “Kathleen” is also the name of Maurice's daughter, whom was probably named after her aunt and is the author of this document. She never signed the document or identified herself as the author; however, the author refers to herself in enough ways to make it clear that Maurice was her father. Also in a letter to cousin Tillie Lou (John's daughter), Kathleen Moloso Marcuson clearly identifies herself as the author. The letter also contains additional details not mentioned in this document. Finally, this original document was typed on letterhead that came from Mrs. Marcuson's family business. Adam Wunn (Edgar's great grandson).

“Moloso” is the Anglo-Saxon spelling for the French name “Woloseau.”

The Moloseau's originally came from Alsace-Lorraine. They immigrated to Ontario, Canada, then to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Grandpa Frank Moloso was born in 1859 in Oshkosh. His parents were Maurice and Matilda. In grandpa's family there were brothers, George, Alec, John and Frank (grandpa) and a half brother, Tim and a half sister, Florence. (They had the same father.) John and his wife, Angie lived in Sedro Wolley. They had one child, a daughter, Rose Wilson.

Frank Moloso married Kathrine Danahey who was born in Ontario, Canada. Her parents immigrated to Canada from Cork County, Ireland. The Danahey family moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. She and Frank Moloso met and married there. She had to brothers who remained in the St. Paul area while she and Frank moved on. Florence, Maurice and Frank, Jr. were born in St. Paul. Then the family moved to Malaca, Minnesota to a farm. Phil, Edgar, Kathaleen and John (Jack) were born in Malaca. Kathaleen was born in 1896 and Maurice was born in 1885.

Frank and Kathrine and family moved to Idaho and homesteaded in Whiskey Meadows near Lewiston. Frank worked as a bridge carpenter for the C.P.R. During his employment with the railway he made a trip to Siberia with a group of officials, He also worked for the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads. Then they moved to Spokane, WA. Florence did not move with then as she was teaching in Asotin, WA. The family did not remain in Spokane long. Northport, WA was their next home. Florence taught two terms in the Northport school, 1900-1901. She was paid $25.00 per month. After the second year [she] went to San Francisco to attend Normal School. It was in school that she met Edgar Riss. They were going to be married there but he was called back to New York City because his mother was dying. Later, Jacob, Edgar's father, sent Aunt Florence enough money for her and a companion to come to New York. She was 24 years old. They had no children. They lived in New York City and were able to travel abroad because of his job as a reporter for the New York Sun, Brooklyn Eagle, and other newspapers. He died at a fairly young age. Florence came west after her husband died for the first visit with her family since leaving 25 years before. She went to Los Angeles, later met and married Watson Forbes, a farmer and business man from Lincoln, Nebraska. They lived in apartment hotels all their lives. Florence vowed she would never cook a meal or wash a dish in her adult life and it seems though she never did. She did considerable writing but I have not ben able to obtain any of her stories. She died May 15, 1971. She lived many years in a retir[e]ment home, Fifield Manor, Los Angeles. She also had spent considerable time in St. Petersburg, Florida. She had an annuity with the Salvation Army. They were the trustee of her estate and took care of her expenses. Upon her death most of the remaining estate went to the Salvation Army.

From Northport, WA the family move to a community called Twelve-Mile. They lived in a rented house behind the Twelve-Mile school. Grandma (Kathrine) became ill in Northport. It is thought she had lead poisoning from the lead smelter in Northport. She was never really well again. About 1895 they located on a homestead southwest of Addy on the Addy-Gifford road where he built them a new home. She (Grandma) died there in 1904. She is buried in the Fairmount Cemetery in Spokane, Wa. Maurice (my dad) Frank, Jr. and Phil worked at the Johnson sawmill on the Addy-Gifford road. Kathaleen went to stay with the Reicker family who then had 10 children, later 11. She lived with them for about 1 year. She stayed with a number of families, anyone needing help with their family. She went to school in Marble Valley and West Side. She lived with Skeels, Willers and Nichols. Later went to work for Jeanerettes who had 5 boys and 3 girls. She married Phil Jeanerett December 26, 1915. They had one daughter, Beverly. Kathaleen and Phil were divorced after 19 years of Marriage. After the divorce Kathaleen and Beverly moved to Spokane, WA. Beverly finished high school at North Central and went to college in Forest Grove, OR on a scholarship.

After 2 years of college she went to work in a real estate office in Spokane, WA. She married Alfred Shaw in 1942. They had 4 children. Beverly and Alfred divorced and she moved to Red Lodge, Mt. One daughter and family lives in Roberts, MT, one in Diamond Lake, WA. One sone in Seattle and one son in Billings, MT. Kathaleen returned to Colville and on November 6, 1954 married Colby Gleason. They lived at 327 W. 3rd Ave. in Colville. Colby Gleason died July 2, 1975. Kathaleen lives at the family home.

Phillip Moloso and his wife, Addie lived in Blue Creek, Wa. They had 2 sons, Phillip and Robert. Phillip, Sr. worked in a store. He and Addie divorced and it is reported that Phillip moved to Los Angeles but the family in Addy did not know for sure. Both sons are dead. Phillip was killed when the plane he was piloting crashed into a mountain during a severe storm. This was in the Phoenix, Arizona area. His widow still lives in Phoenix (it is thought). Robert and sone, Joseph were heavy equipment operators in Moses Lake, WA. They both went to Valdez, AK to work on the pipeline and were killed while working on a bridge project in Keystone Canyon, 20 miles east of Valdez. They worked for Manson-Osberg Co. of Seattle. Robert's window, Allie, lives in Moses Lake. There is also a daughter who lives at home. After Phil and Addie's divorce she married Cap Staehli. Mr. Staehli died in the 1970's. Addie is now in a nursing home in Moses Lake, WA.

Frank Jr. never married. Hew as a roamer, never really settled down. He suffered from cancer in the mouth which developed after having a tooth pulled. He was penniless and dying and to keep from being a burden on the family he went to the poor farm in Spangle, WA. He died there. He many had died under an assumed name (Frank Danahey Bennet). The poor farm is now the Upper Columbia Academy run by the Seven Day Adventists.

Edgar was a carpenter and worked for the Union Pacific Railway. He married Anna Bell of Cheney, WA on June 16th in Addy, WA. They had one daughter, Betty Ann. Betty married Donald Wunn and they had 4 children and are now divorced. Edgar died in Portland March, 1960. Anna lives in the family home at 5115 N.E. 112th Portland, OR.

John (Jack More) married Bertha Parr from Kalispell, MT. On December 20, 1923. They had one daughter, Tillie, born in Pomeroy September. 26Th, 1927. She married Casper Kehrli (sp?). They live in Cathlamet, WA. They had 3 children, Scott, Diane and Keith. Diane married Less Tischer Sept. 1, 1973. Jack died in Seattle in 1965 and is buried in Longview where they had lived for many years. Bertha move to Cathlamet after Jack died.

Maurice, (dad) married Edith Hubert (Ida Bertha was real name) on November, 25, 1912 in Coeur d'Alene, ID. He worked a variety of jobs in sawmill, smelter, was section foreman for the Great Northern Railway and homesteaded on 40 acres in Marble Valley, WA, 4 miles north of Addy, WA. Later they added to the farm, mostly in pasture and timber. Dad sold cordwood for many years and well as having a herd of thorough-bred Jersey cattle. They sold cream at one of the creameries in Addy. There were 3 or 4 creameries in Addy then. Everett Earl was born April 7, 1917 in Addy but before that a son was born dead. Kathleen was born February 8, 1920 and Anna Rose June 14, 1928. Kathleen and Everett went to the Marble Valley school then to St. Mary's in Chewelah, WA. Kathleen graduated from Harrington High where the family had moved to have a wood yard. Anna Rose went to school in Addy and Chewelah High. Everett moved to Renton, WA to work for Boeing. He died in 1957 of a malignant brain tumor, He had not married. Kathleen married Raymond Marcuson February 17, 1940. They have two sons. Patrick who married Maureen Rose Chaney of Kellogg, ID and has 3 children, After many years in Red Lodge, MT. They moved to Soldotna, AK where Pat is working as a Fish Biologist. One daughter, Heather, is now attending Montana State College in Bozeman, MT. Heidi and Wade are in high school. Robert Wade married Susan Lynn Goedde and has 2 sones, Jeremy and Joshua. He is a teacher. Anna Rose married Vernon Sell of Onion Creek, WA and they spent many years in Oregon where Vern drove logging trucks. He died in 1982 and Anna Rose in 1983. They had 8 children, 7 living. Daniel, Judy, Verna, Dennis, Vernon Ray, Kathleen and Deborah. Daniel and wife Linda has two sons. He also has 3 step sons. Verna has one daughter, Roseann, and a son Sherman, Vernon Ray was married in October, 1983. Judy lives in Arkansas with her husband. They have no children. One boy, Sherman died of a malignant brain tumor when he was 9 years old. Dennis, Kathy and Debbie are not married.

Edgar Moloso Biography at Find-a-Grave

Biography and photos for Edgar Moloso

at Findagrave.com written by Adam Wunn

Click here to go to the find a Grave Page for Edgar Moloso

Edgar Moloso was born in Milaca, Minnesota on February, 28th 1894 to Frank B. Moloso Jr. and Kathrine Danahey. The family moved first to Idaho and then later settled in Stevens County Washington. Edgar worked as a dairyman first (on his father's farm) and later as a carpenter. Soon thereafter, he met Anna Bell whom he married June 4, 1916 in a double wedding with Anna's Sister Lola and her betrothed, Paul Paulsen. Edgar and Anna had two children, Betty Ann in 1920 and Vernon Edgar in 1923. Betty lived 95+ years and Vernon died of crib death soon after his birth. The family moved to Oregon sometime in 1921 and eventually settled down in the Parkrose area of Portland, where Edgar and Anna lived for the rest of their lives. Ed worked for Union Pacific Railroad as a carpenter before and during the early part of the Great Depression. He quit his job during the height of the Depression over a work dispute and the family lost their home. They lived in a shack for a time. Ed worked a number of jobs during that time including as a mechanic in Portland and farm laborer in Aurora, OR. During World War II, Ed found employment in a number of labor jobs. After the War, he was a carpenter and built most of the homes along 112th Ave., North of Sandy Blvd. in the Parkrose neighborhood. Ed was sick with cancer for many years, but finally succumbed in 1961 with related heart issues.  He was survived by his wife, Anna, whom lived until 1992 and his daughter, Betty Ann Wunn whom passed away in 2016.

Thomas Bell diary - images of the original

Thomas Angus Bell 1832-1909, kept a diary in his pocket from about 1900 and  up until his death in 1909. Rather than being a day-to-day exercise in documenting his life, the volume was more akin to the notepad app on an iPhone. He used the many pages to detail events like when the family migrated from Canada to California, and later to Washington. He listed family history which included basic facts of his wife, brother, his children, and his parents and grandparents. He also wrote down some practical directions or recipes to accomplish household or farm related tasks. His humor even came out with a newspaper clipping on how to eat carp (the end result is that you throw it over the fence). In his beautiful cursive, wrought by a nib of 19th century ink pen, he detailed the payments by his son, Danny, who was purchasing the family farm from Thomas. There was even a list of friends and family that sent condolence cards when his beloved wife, Mary, died. The final page lists a wonderful poem of unknown origin seemingly dedicated to his depart bride.

Of course, no diary of this type would be complete without phone numbers and addresses of friends and relatives. Alas, even with all of that information and a bit more, most of the pages were empty. He seemed to want to preserve the preciously limited space of the little volume by cramming as much onto each page as possible.

While this little volume did not generally contain his day-to-day life's deeds or thoughts and reflections, it is still a fascinating piece of ephemera that gives a glimpse into the life of a man who lived and died over a century ago. The fact that the book still exists and has been preserved all of these many years, is a remarkable feat and praise goes to his children and grandchildren who thought it important to preserve the little book.

It is an extraordinary and precious gift to be able to hold an item that belonged to your ancestor; to touch the pages and read the words of a man who was someone you wished you could sit down with and share a pleasant chat. It is an rare opportunity to gain insight of an ancestor beyond census and court records and the fading memories of the man handed down over the generations. His words live on and touch his many descendants across the centuries. Truly this is one of the most remarkable artifacts I have ever had the opportunity to review and catalog. Everything I have done to this point was worth it; to be able to learn about this treasure and share the results with other relatives is a joy beyond comparison.

This elegant tri-fold, pocket sized tome is made of well-worn leather that has been well cared for in the almost 110 years since its owner's death. It was recently cleaned and leather treated with leather oil formulated for old leathers made before the age of industrialization. The diary is a part of the Danny Bell Family collection which is in the care of one of his grandchildren. Photo by Jay Lawrence.

Thomas Bell kept this pocket sized diary from about 1900 until around the time of his death. It contains mostly lists of things he wanted to remember rather than a volume documenting his day-to-day life. Still it is fascinating. To hold your Great, Great, Great Grandfather's property in your hand - a man born 185 years ago - is breathtakingly remarkable. Photo by Jay Lawrence.

The opening page of the diary with details of when the family left Canada for California and later Washington. Photo by Jay Lawrence.

Fascinating details about Thomas's parents and Grandparents. This page is an amazing trove. It provides a number of facts not available anywhere else. Photo by Jay Lawrence.