In Remembrance
Maud M. Rummel was born on October 17, 1891 in Ingalls, Madison, Indiana to E.J. Rummel and Mary Olive Sharrett. By the 1900 U.S. Census, she was living in the home of her maternal grandparents, Isaiah and Magdalena Sharrett. She was found in the same household in the 1910 and 1920 U.S. Censuses although by 1920, her grandmother had died. Maud married my maternal grand-uncle, Clarence Martin Wilt, on December 18, 1923. The couple lived on their own farm in Fortville, Indiana and never had children.
My memories of Maud consist of visiting them at their home at least once a year and sometimes twice. Maud had injured her hip at some point and each time I saw her, she was in bed. That lady knew how to quilt! She made many. Their home wasn’t much more than a one room shack with a pot-belly stove toward one end of it. Her “bed” reminded me of a window seat but that was probably because she was always laying next to the window. I can’t even recall if the bed was large enough for the two of them with all of her quilting materials. I recall stacks of newspapers here and there. I can only remember a small table and a few hard chairs. My uncle Clarence always attended the Wilt family reunion in Noblesville each fall. He was a tall man and smoked cigars.
Maud and one of her many quilts
After Uncle Clarence was killed due to their house fire and smoke inhalation on October 14, 1975, Maud went to the hospital for awhile to be treated for smoke inhalation. I remember visiting her when we traveled to Indiana from Ohio for the funeral. After not getting proper rehabilitation treatment for her hip problems for so long, the hospital wanted to get her physical therapy in order to improve her quality of life. I didn’t see her after that last visit. She lived her remaining years at the Sugarcreek Convalescent Home in Greenfield, Indiana and passed away on February 18, 1978. Even though I was in high school, I don’t remember hearing that she had died or that my grandparents attended the funeral. We did have her funeral card so I suspect someone sent it to my grandmother. Maud was buried in the Mendon Cemetery in Pendleton, Indiana next to Uncle Clarence.
Maud left a half-brother, Claud Rummel, and several cousins. Her brother was almost nine years younger than she was so I suspect Maud’s mother had passed away and her father left her with his in-laws as he might not have been able to care for a young girl. Then he married again and had a son. There is a Claude E. Rummell (sp?), son, age 9, found in the 1910 census living in the household of Clayton Rummell, head of household, in Green, Madison, Indiana. Another child, also listed as a son, Robert G., and the mother of the head, Emma J. Rummell, are also living in the same household. The father, Clayton, is listed as married but his wife is not in the household. Claude’s mother’s birthplace is listed as Maryland. In the 1920 census, he is still living with his father, Clayton, and brother – now going by Glen, and a woman listed as “wife” of the head is also listed. Her name is Margurite, seven years older, than Clayton, and born in Indiana. On this census, Claude’s mother is listed as born in Indiana. Claude is married to Ethel by the 1930 census (for about six years) and is still living in Madison county, Indiana. Clayton Rummell is still living in the same location on the 1930 US Census with his wife, Margurite, but the other son, Robert Glen, is not living with them. The father, listed as Manual C. Rummel, in the 1940 census, is widowed by that time. Claude was born on November 26, 1900 in Ingalls, Madison, Indiana according to the United States Social Security Death Index on Familysearch and died three years after his sister, in February 1981. Robert Glen Rummell is found in Marriage Records for Indiana marrying Mary Dean Wischler on February 24, 1922 in Hancock county, Indiana. I believe that the Claude and Robert I have found are Maud’s half-brothers; however, I don’t have original or digitzed records of Maud’s and Clarence’s marriage license to look at to see if what was transcribed as E. J. Rummell was mis-transcribed from M.C. or perhaps whomever completed the marriage license didn’t know (but thought they did) Maud’s father’s initials. I have not found a death record for Maud’s mother nor her brother, Robert, so it is unknown why he wasn’t listed on her obituary (unless he wasn’t close to her and whoever wrote the obituary wasn’t aware of another brother).
Aunt Maud was always very nice to me. She sent me cards on birthdays. Looking back now, I realize that they didn’t have very much, and I wonder if that extended to their finances as well. If so, she must have thought I was special in order to spend money on a card to send to me. Whatever the reason, I am glad that I knew her from the time I was a young girl.
All My Branches Genealogy 