Tombstone Tuesday–Elizabeth Huffman

Elizabeth Huffman, Kessler/Liberty Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio. (2017 photo by Karen)

This is the tombstone of Elizabeth Huffman, located in row 3 of Kessler Cemetery, Liberty Township, Mercer County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed:

HUFFMAN
Elizabeth
1859-1951

Elizabeth Huffman and her twin brother Philip were born 24 December 1859 in Mercer County, Ohio, to Ferdinand and Elizabeth (Herzog) Huffman. Some sources show that her mother’s maiden name was Hartzog.

It appears that Elizabeth was not baptized at Zion Chatt and I do not see that her baptism was recorded at St. Paul (Lutheran) Liberty Township either. Her twin brother Philip was confirmed at Zion Chatt on 14 April 1874 but there is no record that Elizabeth was ever confirmed.

Elizabeth was born south of Chatt and their family had a Skeels Cross Roads Post Office address in 1860. She was enumerated in the 1860 census when she was 8 months old. [1] The 1880 census indicates that she was deaf and was not sent to school. [2]

Elizabeth was enumerated as Isabella, age 37, in the 1900 census and she and her twin brother were still living at home with their parents. [3]

Her father Ferdinand died in 1908 and Elizabeth and her widowed mother Elizabeth lived together in 1910. This enumeration indicates that daughter Elizabeth could not read or write. [4]

Elizabeth’s mother died in 1917 near Muncie, Indiana, likely living with her son John and his wife Samantha (Bebout). [5]  

Elizabeth “Lizzie,” 69, single, lived with her brother-in-law Adam Kable, 68, in 1930 in Liberty Township. Adam was the widower of Elizabeth’s sister Catharine (Huffman) Kable, who died in 1913. Elizabeth was enumerated as Adam’s sister, doing housework, and this enumeration indicates that she could read and write. [6]

In 1940, 79 year-old “Lizzie” still resided with her widowed brother-in-law Adam Kable, age 78, in Liberty Township. She was enumerated as a maid. [7]

Elizabeth Huffman never married. She died at Otis Hospital, Celina, on 22 March 1951, where she had been a patient for 2 days. She was 91 years old and according to her death certificate she lived at RR 2, Celina and did housework. Mrs. Dwight Raudabush was the informant for information on her death certificate. Elizabeth’s cause of death was Heat [?], unreadable.  She was buried on the 24th and Charles Dick was in charge of the arrangements. [8]

Obituary:

Miss Elizabeth Huffman
Celina, Mar. 23—Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Dick and Stallter funeral home for Miss Elizabeth Huffman, 91, Celina, who died Thursday in the Otis hospital here. The Rev. Waldo Byers will be in charge of services with burial in the Kessler cemetery near Chattanooga.

A native of Mercer Co. she was born Sept. [sic] 24, 1859, in Liberty Twp. She and her twin brother, Philip, were one of the oldest set of twins in Mercer Co.

Surviving with her brother is a sister, Mrs. Rose Zellinger of Milwaukee, Wis. [9]

Although Rev. Byers was the minister at Zion Chatt, Elizabeth’s death and burial is not mentioned in Zion’s records.

Elizabeth’s tombstone is located next to that of her twin brother Philip and his wife Etta (Leistner).

 

[1] 1860 U.S. Census, Liberty, Mercer, Ohio, p.358, dwelling 998, family 1003, Fred Hoofman; Ancestry.com; FHL microfilm 805009, NARA microfilm M653, roll 1009.

[2] 1880 U.S. Census, Liberty, Mercer, Ohio, Ed 188, p.472D, dwelling 27, family 28, Ferdinand Hoffman; Ancestry.com; NARA microfilm T9, roll 1048.

[3] 1900 U.S. Census, Liberty, Mercer, Ohio, ED 85, p.9A, dwelling 166, family 171, Ferdinand Hoffman; Ancestry.com; FHL microfilm 1241304, NARA microfilm T623, roll 1304.

[4] 1910 U.S. Census, Liberty, Mercer, Ohio, ED 119, p.16B, dwelling 352, family 313, Elizabeth Huffman; Ancestry.com; ED 117, p.16B; FHL microfilm 1375227, NARA microfilm T624, roll 1214.

[5] Indiana Deaths, 1882-1920, Ancestry.com, Elizabeth Huffman, 9 Nov 1917; Indiana WPA.

[6] 1930 U.S. Census, Liberty, Mercer, Ohio, ED 20, p.6A, dwelling & family 128, Adam Kable; Ancestry.com; FHL microfilm 2341584, NARA microfilm T626, roll 1850.

[7] 1940 U.S. Census, Liberty, Mercer, Ohio, ED 54-22, p.2A, line 37, household 30, Adam Koble; Ancestry.com; NARA microfilm T627, roll 3114.

[8] “Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953, FamilySearch.org, Elizabeth Huffman, 22 Mar 1951; Ohio DOH, Mercer County; FHL microfilm 2372798.

[9] The Lima News, 23 Mar 1951, p.2, Ancestry.com.

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