IF THIS HOUSE COULD TALK -- Blog #12
IF THIS HOUSE COULD TALK ---Blog #12 I remember June 9, 1881, the day that Charles John Daniel was born. The night before was a restless one for Charles and Sylvia. Charles got up at 4:00 a.m. to go to work at the bank and went back and forth all morning. At noon, he came home for lunch, and at 1 p.m. they called Doc Edwards. At 1:30 p.m. their third child, a fine, healthy, crying boy, was born. Sylvia told Charles that their baby boy should be named after him. Jennie gave her little brother his first kiss.
It’s been a joy to watch Charley, as Charles called him, grow up. The youngest child, he was dependable, responsible, and industrious with a fun-loving, adventurous side.
He was a typical five-year-old boy. He jumped off the capstone of the brick wall and sprained his ankle; he got a bee bite picking apples in the orchard; and he climbed the trees in the yard so he could look over the wall at the exciting things that might have been happening on Broadway. He liked to remind his “Papa” to write in his diary and often sat with him to ask what he was writing about.
As early as five years of age, Charley helped with as many daily chores as he could such as going to the market for meat. A little older, he earned extra money working on his Aunt Jane's farm. He got up early to help milk the cows and he tended the hogs. In the winter of 1894 at the age of 12, he went up and down Broadway and many businesses paid him to shovel snow for them. A year later, he was helping his father at the bank by running errands for him to the courthouse. When he turned 15, he earned $8 a month helping to arrange the bank lobby for opening.
It wasn’t all work and no play for him. Charley liked to play pranks on his sisters, like wearing a sheet and scaring them in the garden one Halloween night. He loved the outdoors and went hunting and fishing with his cousins. He also spent time camping, playing football, and bike riding with friends. In 1895, they went for a long ride to Blue Rapids and didn’t return home until 6 p.m.
Charles depended on his young son.When he had problems with his eyes that weren’t getting better, he went to Chicago to see an eye doctor. Charley, age 11, made the trip with his father and helped him get around since he could barely see.
On Charley’s 15th birthday, Charles observed, “What changes since his birth, all for the better and he has so far proven a good, faithful, honest boy who loves parent and home. He already is aware that someday he must be looking after the welfare of this home…” That prophecy came to be in 1902 when Charles unexpectedly died of a stroke. A heavy weight and a huge responsibility were thrust on Charley at age 21. Not only was he the executor of the estate, but he was also given responsibility for his two sisters, Tinnie (25) and Jennie (23).
Charley married fellow 1899 Marysville High School classmate, Violet Hyacinth Pulleine, on October 31, 1906. They lived here until the construction of their new house was completed. Their new house was across the courtyard from me where Charles’ greenhouse used to be. They had two children, Charles W. (Chod) and Julia Constance, and six grandchildren.
From the time Charley finished his studies at Gem City Business College in 1900, he had progressively more responsible positions at the Exchange Bank of Schmidt & Koester. He worked alongside his Schmidt cousins. He was a director and president when he died October 9, 1965, at the age of 84.
The top right photo of Charles John Daniel (Charley) was taken in January 1886, when he was four years old. Pictured on the bottom right are Charles J.D. and his wife Hyacinth Pulleine. The portrait photo of Charles J.D. on the left hung in the Exchange Bank of Schmidt & Koester.
IF THIS HOUSE COULD TALK - Blog #13I’ve been fortunate to have had family here long after Charles and Sylvia died. Jennie lived her entire life here. Tinnie, after she was...
Bonus Post for IF THIS HOUSE COULD TALK Charles J.D. Koester’s nineth birthday was memorable. When he was four, Charley was given a toy horse he called Old Hobby because he lov...
IF THIS HOUSE COULD TALK -- Blog #12IF THIS HOUSE COULD TALK ---Blog #12 I remember June 9, 1881, the day that Charles John Daniel was born. The night before was a restless...
IF THIS HOUSE COULD TALK -- BONUS BLOG -- JENNIE THE ARTISTJennie Lucy Koester Scott, Charles and Sylvia Koester’s middle child, was born 146 years ago. Affectionately known as “Jinks” by her fam...