IF THIS HOUSE COULD TALK - Blog #10 by Earl Schreckengast

 Tinnie was named after Sylvia’s cousin, Tinnie, whom she grew fond of when she was an orphan living with her abusive aunt. Charles’ mother was Ludowine. Tinnie was affectionately known to her niece and nephew and their children as “Tinks.”

As new parents and older parents, Charles, 36, and Sylvia, 29, took Tinnie with them everywhere they went. By the time she was one, she even went with Charles to the bank, but their most treasured moments were when she helped them in the garden, planting and picking flowers for Sylvia. Tinnie was five years old when Sylvia became ill with consumption. She stayed in the room with Sylvia at night and didn’t cry until Sylvia was placed in the ground and her grave covered.

Tinnie loved school and was eager to learn. She was upset when it was too cold to go to school and Charles made her stay home. She did well, advancing two grades at the end of her first year. Charles was proud of her when at age 10 she was promoted to another grade where she would write with ink. It was hard for her when Charles decided she, at the age of 14, should stop school and stay home to help with the running of the house. He wanted a family member to be present after cousin Ludowine Schmidt, who had been living with them, had to leave to take care of the children of her sister Jennie who had died. Charles later regretted his decision.

Tinnie was a big help around the house, and she liked to sew. As early as age six, she was sewing on “Mama’s” machine, going to the market, and helping to cook breakfast. She used the money she earned and her sewing skills to make clothes for her dolls. She also helped Charles at the bank. When she was 11 years old, she took papers from the bank to the courthouse for the Registry of Deeds. She and sister Jennie often made strawberry jelly and cherry jam. Tinnie loved to read and often read to Charles at night. She played the piano but hated practicing. As she got older, Tinnie and her sister, Jennie, took trips out of town to visit friends, attend concerts, and shop. By 1894, when Tinnie was 17, Charles commented, “…how dear Mama (Sylvia) would delight to be near her! She has grown so womanly and tall and helpful and good.”

Tinnie was 32 years old when she married Guy Helvering at a ceremony here at the house. A local lawyer who grew up in Beatrice, Guy was Marshall County attorney, U. S. congressman from Marysville, Commissioner of the IRS, and a federal district judge in Topeka.

After they were married, they lived in Salina, Kansas, and Washington, D.C. Tinnie moved back to Marysville after Guy died in 1946. She and her sister Jennie, who also was widowed, lived here until she died from a heart attack in 1957 at the age of 79.

The top right photo of Tinnie was taken in January 1886, when she was eight years old. The bottom right photo of Tinnie and husband Guy Helvering was taken in Washington D.C. on June 6, 1933, the day Guy was sworn in as Commissioner of the IRS.